PANAMA-PACIFIC 
INTERNATIONAL 
EXPOSITION  EDITION 

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WASHINGTON  : 


SOVE'INMEMT  PRINT.'MQ  OFFICE  :  1918 


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PANAMA-PACIFIC 

INTERNATIONAL 

EXPOSITION  EDITION 

1915 


WASHINQTON  :  GOVERNMENT  PRINTINQ  OFFICE  :  191> 


ORGANIZATION  OF  DEPARTMENT,  1915 

Secretary  of  Commerce 
Hon.  WHvUAM  Cox  Redfield,  of  New  York 

Assistant  Secretary  of  Commerce 
Hon.  Edwin  F.  SwEET,  of  Michigan 

Office  of  the  Solicitor 

Solicitor Albert  Lee  Thurman,  of  Ohio 

Assistant  Solicitor Edward  T.  Quigley 

Office  of  the  Secretary 

Chief  Clerk  and  Superintendent GEO.  C.  Havenner 

Disbursing  Clerk George  Johannes 

Private  Secretary  to  the  Secretary U.  Grant  Smith 

Private  Secretary  to  the  Assistant  Secretary Robert  H.  Clancy 

Confidential  Clerk  to  the  Secretary Agathe  Olsen 

Chief  Division  of  Appointments George  W.  Leadley 

Chief  Division  of  Publications Dan  C.  Vaughan 

Chief  Division  of  Supplies Francis  M.  Shore 

Bureau  of  the  Census 

Director William  J.  Harris 

Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce 

Chief Edward  Ewing  Pratt 

Assistant  Chief  (first) Edward  A.  Brand 

Assistant  Chief  (second) Frank  R.  Ruttsr 

Bureau  of  Standards 
Director S.  W.  Strattok 

Bureau  of  Fisheries 

Commissioner Hugh  M.  Smith 

Deputy  Commissioner E.  Lester  Jones 

Bureau  of  Lighthouses 

Commissioner George  R.  Putnam 

Deputy  Conmiissioner John  S.  Conway 

Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 

Superintendent Otto  H.  Tittmann 

Assistant  Superintendent Frank  Walley  Perkins 

Bureau  of  Navigation 

Commissioner Eugbnb  Tyler  Chambsri.ain 

Deputy  Commissioner Arthur  J.  Tyrbr 

Steamboat'Inspeclion  Service 
Stm>ervising  Inspector  General C^orob  UhlsS 


CONTENTS. 


-  Page. 

Ofigin  and  oriTEmlzatkm  of  the  Department „ 5 

Origin 5 

Organization 13 

Dudes  assigned  to  OfiSce  of  the  Secretary 16 

Secretary  of  Commerce 16 

Assistant  Secretary 17 

Solicitor 17 

Cliief  Clerk  and  Superintendent 18 

Disbursing  Clerk x8 

Appointment  Division 19 

Division  of  Publications 19 

Division  of  Supplies ao 

Boreau  of  the  Census ai 

Historical ai 

Decennial  censuses,  1790-1900 ' ax 

Establishment  of  permanent  bureau 34 

Work  of  the  Bureau 24 

Decennial  census  of  population as 

Deceimial  census  of  agriculture .* a6 

Decennial  census  of  mines  and  quarries 36 

Quinquennial  census  of  manufactures 27 

Biennial  preparation  of  OflScial  Register  of  the  United  States ay 

Annual  inquiries 37 

Geographer's  Division aS 

Mechanical  appliances 38 

Organization 29 

United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey 30 

Field  work , 31 

OflSce  vrork 33 

Bnreau  of  Fisheries 36 

Division  of  Administration 38 

Division  of  Fish  Culture 38 

Division  of  Inquiry  Respecting  Food  Fishes -  39 

Division  of  Statistics  and  Methods  of  the  Fisheries 39 

Alaska  Fisheries  Service 40 

Publications 41 

Bsreau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce 4a 

History 42 

Bureau  of  Manuf  actiu-es 4a 

Btveau  of  Statistics 4a 

Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  in  the  State  Department 43 

3 


Contents 


Btireau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce — Continued.  Page. 

Work  of  the  Bureau 45 

Consular  reports 45 

Commercial  attaches 46 

Commercial  agents 46 

Foreign  tariffs 46 

Commercial  statistics 47 

Specific  opportunities  to  extend  trade 48 

Trade  directories 49 

Branch  offices 49 

Domestic  trade  development 50 

Cost  of  production  investigations 50 

Bureau  of  Lighthouses 51 

Bureau  of  Navigation 54 

Bureau  of  Standards S9 

Steamboat-Inspection  Service 67 


THE   DEPARTMENT  OF  COMMERCE. 

ORIGIN   AND    ORGANIZATION   OF  THE   DEPARTMENT. 

ORIGIN. 

The  preamble  to  the  Constitution  lays  down  broadly  two  great 
aims  of  government — (i)  the  defense  of  tlie  life,  liberty,  and  prop- 
erty of  the  citizen,  and  (2)  the  promotion  of  his  general  welfare. 

In  the  year  following  the  adoption  of  the. Constitution,  three  of 
the  executive  branches  of  Government,  with  Secretaries,  were 
established:  First,  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs,  by  act 
approved  July  27,  1789  (name  changed  to  Department  of  State  by 
act  approved  September  15  of  the  same  year);  second,  the  War 
Department,  created  by  the  act  of  August  7,  1789  (then  embracing 
naval  affairs);  and  third,  the  Treasury  Department,  established 
by  act  of  September  2,  1789.  Until  the  Department  of  Commerce 
(and  Labor)  was  organized,  in  1903,  the  Treasury  Department  was 
the  principal  agency  of  government  through  which  a  limited  super- 
vision of  the  commercial  and  industrial  life  of  the  nation  was 
administered,  and  the  designation  sought  to  be  given  its  chief 
officer  in  the  constitutional  convention  was  that  of  "Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Finance." ^ 

The  record  of  events  from  the  close  of  the  Revolution  to  the  con- 
stitutional convention  at  Philadelphia  in  1787  shows  that  the  desire 
to  foster  the  commerce  and  trade  of  the  States  was  the  paramount 
and  controlling  argument  which  made  the  Union  possible. 

The  constitutional  convention  of  the  thirteen  States  was  the  direct 
outcome  of  the  Annapolis  convention  of  five  States,  and  this  con- 
vention, in  turn,  was  bom  of  the  Mount  Vernon  convention  of 
delegates  from  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  assembled  to 
adjust  and  promote  commerce  and  trade  between  those  two  States. 
The  commissioners  from  Virginia  and  Maryland  met  at  Alexandria, 

I  Documentary  History  of  the  Constitution. 


Department  of  C omme  rce 


in  the  former  State,  in  the  spring  of  1785,  but  General  Washington 
extended  to  them  the  hospitality  of  his  home,  which  they  accepted, 
and  the  delegates — all  prominent  men  of  their  day,  and  friends  of 
Washington — conducted  their  deliberations  at  Mount  Vernon, 
aided,  no  doubt,  by  the  counsel  of  their  host,  whose  interest  in 
and  knowledge  of  the  subject  tmder  discussion  had  long  been  mani- 
fest, and  who,  two  years  later,  presided  at  the  constitutional  con- 
vention at  Philadelphia.  The  sole  subject  of  this  meeting  at  the 
home  of  Washington  was  the  commerce  and  trade  between  the 
two  States;  but  in  reality  these  men  were  enacting  the  prologue 
to  what  was  to  be  in  fact  an  indissoluble  Union. 

The  Mount  Vernon  convention  recommended  that  representa- 
tives be  appointed  annually  to  confer  on  the  commercial  and  trade 
relations  of  the  States.  In  considering  this  report,  Maryland  passed 
a  resolution  inviting  Pennsylvania  and  Delaware  to  join  in  these 
annual  conventions;  while  in  the  Virginia  assembly,  Madison 
penned  a  resolution  appointing  commissioners  to  meet  such  as 
should  be  delegated  by  the  other  States  "to  take  into  consideration 
the  trade  of  the  United  States, ' '  and  "to  consider  how  far  a  uniform 
system  in  their  commercial  regulations  may  be  necessary  to  their 
common  interest  and  permanent  harmony. "  * 

The  immediate  result  of  the  conference  on  trade  and  commerce 
held  at  Moimt  Vernon  was  that  in  the  following  year,  1786,  commis- 
sioners from  five  of  the  thirteen  States  assembled  by  appointment 
at  Annapolis  "  to  take  into  consideration  the  trade  and  commerce  erf 
the  United  States."  In  this  convention,  Hamilton  drew  up  an 
address,  which  Madison  and  Randolph  signed  with  him,  recom- 
mending a  general  meeting  of  the  States  in  a  futiu"e  convention,  and 
an  extension  of  the  powers  of  their  delegates  to  other  objects  than 
those  of  commerce,  as  in  the  course  of  their  reflections  on  the  sub- 
ject they  had  been  "induced  to  think  that  the  power  to  regulate 
Trade  is  of  such  comprehensive"  extent  and  will  enter  so  far  into  the 
General  System  of  the  Foederal  Government,  that  togiveiteflBcacy, 
and  to  obviate  questions  and  doubts  concerning  its  precise  nature 
and  limits,  may  require  a  correspondent  adjustment  of  other  Parts 
of  the  Foederal  System, ' '  ^ 

In  the  constitutional  convention,  August  20,  1787,  Mr.  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  seconded  by  Mr.  Pinckney,  submitted  a  propoaal  that 

I  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biographjr. 
*  Documentary  History  of  the  Constitutioa. 


Origin  and  Organization 


there  should  be  a  council  of  state  to  "assist  the  President  in  con- 
ducting the  public  affairs, ' '  the  third  member  of  this  coimcil  to  be 
a  "Secretar>'  of  Commerce  and  Finance,"  whose  duties  were,  in 
part,  to  "recommend  such  things  as  may  in  his  judgment  promote 
the  commercial  interests  of  the  United  States."  This  plan  also 
provided  for  a  Secretary  of  Domestic  Affairs  to  have  supervision  of 
agricultm-e,  manufactures,  roads,  and  navigation.*  The  Constitu- 
tion, as  adopted,  makes  no  provision  for  a  cabinet  or  council  of 
state,  but  President  Washington  immediately  invited  the  Secreta- 
ries of  the  three  departments  first  mentioned,  and  the  Attorney 
General,  appointed  under  the  act  of  September  24,  1789,  to  become 
members  of  his  official  family.  The  Department  of  Justice  was 
established  by  the  act  approved  June  22,  1870. 

Dming  the  period  between  the  close  of  the  Federal  convention 
and  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution,  Alexander  Hamilton, 
writing  on  the  subject  of  commerce,  said: 

The  importance  of  the  Union,  in  a  commercial  light,  is  one  of 
tliose  points  about  which  there  is  least  room  to  entertain  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion,  and  which  has,  in  fact,  commanded  the  most 
general  assent  of  men  who  have  any  acquaintance  with  the  subject. 
This  applies  as  well  to  our  intercourse  with  foreign  countries  as 
with  each  other.- 

In  1788,  the  same  year  ii;  which  the  above  was  written  by 
Hamilton,  Commodore  John  Paul  Jones,  in  a  letter  to  the  Marquise 
de  Lafayette  concerning  the  Constitution,  stated: 

Had  I  the  power  I  would  create  at  least  seven  ministries  in  the 
primary  organization  of  government  tmder  the  Constitution.  In 
addition  to  the  four  already  agreed  upon,  I  would  ordain  a  Ministry 
of  Marine,  a  Ministry  of  Home  Affairs,  and  a  General  Post  Office; 
and,  as  commerce  must  be  our  great  reliance,  it  would  not  be  amiss 
to  create  also  as  the  eighth  a  Ministry  of  Commerce.^ 

The  remarkable  foresight  of  the  great  commodore  enabled  him 
to  name  the  Cabinet  very  much  as  it  is  to-day,  practically  in  the 
order  in  which  it  grew,  agriculture  being  included  by  him  in  the 
Interior  (Home)  Department,  where  it  actually  was  for  a  time. 
The  labor  interests,  however,  are  now  also  provided  for  in  a  separate 
department. 

When  the  Constitution  had  been  ratified  by  eleven  States,  and 
the  Congress,  imder  its  authority  to  "regulate  commerce  with 

1  Documentary  History  of  the  Constitution. 

'  Federalist. 

'  Original  manuscript  in  archives  of  Congressional  Library. 


8  Department  of  Commerce 

foreign  nations  and  among  the  several  States, "  proceeded  solemnly 
to  treat  the  commerce  and  manufactures  of  the  two  remaining  States 
in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  any  foreign  cotmtry,  it  was  from  a 
sense  of  their  commercial  interests  that  they  hastened  to  enroll 
themselves  with  their  sister  Commonwealths,  although  one  of  these 
two  States  had  not  even  participated  in  the  convention. 

Thus,  not  only  were  the  commercial  and  industrial  interests 
of  the  States  an  important  and  controlling  influence  in  bringing 
them  into  the  Federal  convention,  but  a  realization  of  the  com- 
mercial advantages  of  the  Union  induced  the  States  to  ratify  the 
Constitution. 

In  his  first  annual  address  to  Congress,  President  Washington 
said: 

The  advancement  of  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures 
by  all  proper  means  will  not,  I  trust,  need  recommendation. 

The  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  Alexander  Hamilton,  gave 
special  consideration  to  the  commerce  and  industries  of  the  country, 
and  his  special  reports  on  these  subjects,  in  which  he  recommended 
that  a  board  be  established  for  promoting  arts,  agriculture,  manu- 
factures, and  commerce,  demonstrate  that  he  considered  this 
function  of  the  Treasury  Department  one  of  primary  importance. 

Hastened  by  impending  war  with  France,  the  act  of  April  30, 
1798,  was  passed,  establishing  the  Navy  Department,  and  its  Secre- 
tary became  the  fifth  member  of  the  Cabinet.  In  1829  the  Post- 
master General  entered  the  Cabinet  for  the  first  time,  on  the  invi- 
tation of  President  Jackson,  though  this  office  had  been  in  exist- 
ence since  the  act  of  September  22,  1789.  The  General  Post  Office 
was  constituted  the  Post  Office  Department  by  the  act  approved 
June  8,  1872. 

The  discussions  in  the  early  Congresses  looking  toward  the  estab- 
lishment of  another  executive  department  centered  around  what 
was  termed  a  "  Home  Department, ' '  and  the  then  important  work  of 
government  in  connection  with  land  and  Indian  affairs  formed  the 
nucleus  from  which  was  established,  under  the  act  of  March  3, 
1849,  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  whose  Secretary  became  the 
seventh  Cabinet  member.  As  the  business  interests  of  the  country 
entered  largely  into  the  provisions  of  the  various  measures  antici- 
pating the  Interior  Department,  it  may  be  well  to  notice  some  of 
these  reports. 


Origin  and  Organization 


In  a  bill  to  establish  a  Home  Department,  introduced  by  Repre- 
sentative Vining,  of  Delaware,  in  the  First  Congress,  July  23,  1789, 
the  duties  of  the  proposed  department  were,  in  part,  "to  report  to 
the  President  plans  for  the  protection  and  improvement  of  manu- 
factm^es,  agriculture,  and  commerce."  The  outcome  of  this  move- 
ment was  the  change  in  name  of  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs  to 
Department  of  State,  above  noted,  and  the  giving  of  duties  to  the 
State  Department  not  comportable  with  the  original  name. 

President  Madison's  message  of  December  3,  1816,  recommended 
the  establishment  of  "an  additional  department  in  the  executive 
branch  of  the  Government";  and  the  Senate  committee  to  which 
this  recommendation  was  referred  reported  a  bill  to  establish  a 
Home  Department  to  have  charge  of  such  subjects  as  the  President 
might  direct.  In  1825  the  subject  was  again  revived,  and  Repre- 
sentative Newton  offered  a  resolution  that  a  department  to  be 
denominated  "the  Home  Department  should  be  established  for 
the  pixrpose  of  superintending  whatever  may  relate  to  the  interests 
of  agriculttu-e  and  maniifactures,  the  promotion  of  the  progress  of 
science  and  the  arts,  the  intercotu-se  and  trade  between  the  several 
States  by  roads  and  canals. "    This  resolution  was  not  agreed  to. 

In  his  message  of  December  6,  1825,  President  John  Quincy 
Adams  recommended  a  reorganization  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments, and  the  committee .  of  the  House  of  Representatives  to 
which  this  matter  was  referred,  by  its  chairman,  Daniel  Webster, 
reported  a  bill  to  establish  a  new  department.  The  report  stated 
that  "at  the  organization  of  the  Government  it  appears  to  have 
been  the  original  design,  in  regard  to  the  executive  departments, 
that  there  should  be  a  distinct  and  separate  department  for  such 
internal  or  domestic  affairs  as  appertain  to  the  General  Govern- 
ment." 

On  December  15,  1836,  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Benton,  of  Missouri, 
that  "the  annual  statement  of  the  commerce  and  navigation  of  the 
United  States  be  hereafter  printed  imder  the  direction  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  and  be  commimicated  in  printed  form  as 
soon  as  possible  after  the  commencing  of  each  stated  session  of 
Congress,"  was  adopted  by  the  Senate. 

Notwithstanding  the  discussions  leading  up  to  the  establishment 
of  the  Department  of  the  Interior,  very  few  of  the  commercial  and 
industrial  agencies  of  Government  were  put  tuider  the  control  of 
that  department,  most  of  them  remaining  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 

77442°— 15 2 


Department  of  Commerce 


The  movement  for  the  creation  of  an  additional  executive  depart- 
ment, following  the  establishment  of  the  Interior  Department,  took 
many  and  varied  phases.  The  names  proposed  in  the  different 
bills  to  establish  a  new  department  indicate  their  provisions. 
These  names  included  the  following  titles,  grouped  together  in 
various  ways:  Agriculture,  Commerce,  Labor,  Industries,  Manu- 
factures, Patents,  Mining,  Navigation,  Transportation,  and  Me- 
chanics. 

The  first  industries  of  the  country  to  be  accorded  an  executive 
department  by  the  Congress  were  those  of  agriculture,  when  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  established  by  act  of  May  15,  1862, 
was  constituted  an  executive  department,  with  a  Secretary  of 
Agriculture  (eighth  member  of  the  Cabinet),  by  the  act  of  February 
9,  1889.  The  commercial  and  maniifacturing  interests  of  the  coun- 
try, as  far  as  governmental  supervision  and  cooperation  were  con- 
cerned, were  left  to  offices  distributed  among  the  several  depart- 
ments. The  business  of  government  increased  in  volume  as  the 
coimtry  grew  in  age,  and  during  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  work  of  the  fiscal  branch  of  the  Treasury  so  absorbed 
the  attention  of  the  head  of  that  department  that  his  supervision 
of  commercial  matters  had  lost  the  importance  it  had  enjoyed  imder 
the  first  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Commercial  conventions  at  Detroit  in  1865,  and  at  Boston  in 
1868,  and  the  National  Board  of  Trade  in  1874,  memorialized  the 
Congress  for  the  establishment  of  a  Department  of  Commerce,  in 
order  that  the  rapidly  increasing  volume  of  capital  invested  in 
commerce  and  manufactures  might  be  the  subject  of  governmental 
aid  and  supervision.  Many  similar  petitions  were  later  presented 
to  the  Congress,  and  the  subject  was  referred  to  in  several  political 
platforms  and  annual  messages  of  the  President.  These  petitions, 
and  the  representatives  of  commercial  organizations  before  the 
committees  of  Congress,  stated  that  the  United  States  was  a  dis- 
tinctly commercial  and  industrial  nation;  that  the  Twelfth  Census 
showed  the  aggregate  value  of  the  products  of  the  manufacturing 
establishments  of  the  United  States,  diu-ing  the  census  year  ended 
June  I,  1900,  to  exceed  thirteen  billion  dollars,  which  is  probably 
nearly  foiu-  times  the  aggregate  value  of  all  the  products  of  agricul- 
ture during  the  same  year;  that  the  same  arguments  advanced  for 
the  creation  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  were  applicable  to 
one  for  the  commercial  and  indiistrial  life  of  the  coimtry;  that  the 


Origin  and  Organization 


manufacturing  interests  in  the  United  States  exceeded  in  volume 
and  importance  the  industrial  interests  of  any  nation  in  the  world, 
and  yet  there  was  no  Government  office  specially  charged  with 
any  duties  relating  directly  to  them,  and  that  in  this  respect  the 
United  States  was  almost  alone  among  the  nations  of  the  world; 
that  agriculture,  labor,  transportation,  mining,  fisheries,  and 
forestry  all  had  distinct  recognition  in  one  form  or  another,  but 
not  so  with  the  manufacturing  interests. 

The  coxmtry's  need  for  a  Department  of  Commerce,  which  had 
become  national  in  scope  in  1874,  was  forced  to  give  way  tempo- 
rarily in  order  that  all  the  energy  of  the  commerce  committees  of 
Congress  might  be  centered  upon  the  eradication  of  the  transpor- 
tation evil  of  rebates.  This  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in  1887. 

The  movement  for  the  establishment  of  the  Department  gathered 
headway,  however,  and  in  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress  legislation 
providing  for  its  organization  was  enacted.  The  legislative  history 
of  the  act  creating  the  Department  appears  in  the  Congressional 
Record  for  that  Congress,  and,  while  interesting,  is  too  extended 
for  more  than  the  briefest  outline  here. 

On  December  4,  1901,  Senator  Nelson  introduced  in  the  Senate 
a  bill  (S.  569)  "To  establish  the  Department  of  Commerce,"  which 
was  read  twice  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Commerce;  on 
January  9,  1902,  the  bill  was  reported  with  certain  amendments 
(S.  Rept.  No.  82,  57th  Cong.,  1st  sess.).  The  discussion  on  the 
bill  began  in  the  Senate  on  January  13,  was  continued  on  January 
16,  20,  22,  23,  27,  and  28,  and  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  with  a 
number  of  amendments,  including  one  changing  the  name  to 
"  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,"  on  the  last-named  date. 

The  act  was  received  in  the  House  and  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Interstate  and  Foreign  Commerce  on  January  30,  1902.  On 
January  6,  1903,  the  committee  submitted  a  report  (H.  Rept.  No. 
2970,  57th  Cong.,  2d  sess.)  recommending  that  the  bill  of  the 
Senate  (S.  569)  be  amended  by  striking  out  all  after  the  enacting 
clause  and  substituting  in  lieu  thereof  an  entirely  new  bill.  The 
House  bill,  however,  embraced  most  of  the  features  contained  in 
the  Senate  bill,  the  main  contention  being  as  to  what  bureaus 
should  be  embraced  in  the  new  Department. 

On  January  15,  1903,  the  bill  was  taken  up  under  a  special 
contintiing  order  to  be  considered  imtil  finally  disposed  of  in 


Department  of  C ommerce 


Committee  of  the  Whole  House  on  the  state  of  the  Union.  On 
January  17  the  debate  was  concluded  in  the  House  and  the  bill 
was  passed. 

The  bill  was  in  due  course  sent  to  a  committee  of  conference. 
(For  Senate  proceedings  see  Congressional  Record  of  January  19 
and  29,  and  February  10  and  11,  1903,  and  for  House  proceedings 
see  Record  of  January  29  and  February  9  and  10,  1903.)  The  con- 
ference report  was  agreed  to  in  the  House  on  February  10  and  in 
the  Senate  on  February  1 1 ,  and  the  bill  was  signed  by  the  President 
on  February  14,  1903. 

Thus  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  became  the  ninth 
member  of  the  President's  Cabinet. 

The  labor  interests  first  received  recognition  in  the  establishment 
of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  under  the  act  of  Congress  approved  June  27, 
1884;  this  Bureau  was  constituted  the  Department  of  Labor,  and 
the  Commissioner  of  Labor  was  continued  in  charge,  by  the  act  of 
Congress  approved  June  13,  1888.  By  the  act  of  February  14,  1903, 
the  Department  of  Labor  was  on  July  i,  1903,  transferred  to  the 
Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and  made  a  bureau  thereof. 
By  the  act  of  March  4,  1913,  the  name  of  the  Bureau  was  changed  to 
"  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics, ' '  and  by  the  same  act  it  was  transferred 
to  and  made  a  part  of  the  new  Department  of  Labor,  the  head  of 
which  became  the  tenth  member  of  the  President's  Cabinet.  The 
act  of  March  4,  1913,  transferred  also  from  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  to  the  Department  of  Labor  the  Commissioner 
General  of  Immigration,  the  commissioners  of  immigration,  the 
Bureau  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization,  the  Division  of  Infor- 
mation, the  Division  of  Naturalization,  the  Immigration  Service  at 
Large,  and  the  Children's  Bureau.  Also  the  Division  of  Naturali- 
zation was  created  an  independent  biu-eau,  and  the  title  of  the  head 
thereof  was  changed  from  Chief,  Division  of  Naturalization,  to 
"Commissioner  of  Naturalization."  The  act  of  March  4,  1913,  also 
changed  the  designation  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor 
to  "  Department  of  Commerce,"  and  the  title  of  the  Secretary  was 
changed  to  "Secretary  of  Commerce." 

It  may  appear  strange  that  one  hundred  and  fourteen  years 
elapsed  before  a  Department  of  Commerce  became  a  reality,  when 
its  need  was  felt  and  its  value  recognized  at  the  very  beginning. 
The  answer  is  ready.  Conservative  action  on  the  important  subject 
of  increasing  the  number  of  executive  departments  has  been  the 


Origin  and  Organization  13 


rule  of  the  Congress.  The  name  "  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs" 
was  changed  to  "Department  of  State"  in  order  that  the  field  of 
that  department  might  be  enlarged  and  the  creation  of  a  home 
department  avoided;  tlie  naval  affairs  were  consolidated  with  those 
of  the  Army  to  make  unnecessary  a  separate  Department  of  the 
Navy.  .  In  this  grouping  in  one  department  of  matters  that  would 
logically  form  two,  it  was  but  natural  that  commerce  and  finance 
should  at  first  abide  together.  The  tendency  of  the  national  legis- 
lature to  follow  and  not  lead  in  enlarging  the  executive  side  of 
government  compelled  the  Department  of  Commerce  to  wait,  as 
each  of  the  older  departments  in  its  turn  had  waited,  until  the 
demand  for  the  legislation  became  paramoimt  and  unanimous,  and 
luitil  the  field  of  its  activity  was  already  so  large  and  the  appeal  so 
urgent  that  none  but  an  affirmative  answer  could  be  given. 

ORGANIZATION. 

The  initial  step  in  the  organization  of  the  Department  was  the 
appointment,  by  the  President,  of  George  B.  Cortelyou  as  the  first 
Secretary  on  February  16,  1903;  the  nomination  was  confirmed  by 
the  Senate  on  the  same  day,  and  the  Secretary,  after  taking  the  oath 
of  office  on  February  18,  established  temporary  headquarters  at  the 
White  House. 

The  temporary  headquarters  were  later  moved  to  the  building 
known  as  the  Builders'  Exchange,  at  719-721  Thirteenth  Street 
NW.,  where,  in  a  large  room  divided  by  partitions,  the  work  of 
organization  was  begun  on  March  16,  1903,  though  a  Commissioner 
of  Corporations,  Chief  Clerk,  and  Disbursing  Clerk  had  been  ap- 
pointed prior  to  that  date.  A  few  weeks  later  the  Willard  Building, 
which  was  then  under  construction  at  513-515  Fourteenth  Street 
NW.,  was  rented  by  the  Department,  and  the  Secretary,  with  as 
much  of  his  force  as  was  organized,  moved  in  as  soon  as  the  building 
was  completed.  This  building  was  the  headquarters  of  the  Depart- 
ment until  September  i,  19 13,  though  such  of  its  bureaus  as  it  had 
been  impracticable  to  accommodate  there  were  located  about  the 
city  wherever  suitable  quarters  could  be  found.  The  Department 
now,  however,  occupies  a  building  which  was  designed  especially 
for  its  needs  at  Nineteenth  Street  and  Pennsylvania  Avenue  NW., 
where  it  will  probably  be  located  until  its  proposed  new  building  is 
erected  by  the  Government  on  the  site  which  has  already  been 
acquired  south  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue  between  Fourteenth  and 


14  Department  of  Commerce 

Fifteenth  Streets  NW.  In  addition  to  the  offices  of  the  Secretary, 
the  following  bureaus  of  the  Department,  which  are  the  only  ones 
occupying  rented  quarters,  are  housed  in  the  Commerce  Building: 
Bureau  of  the  Census,  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce, 
Bureau  of  Lighthouses,  Bureau  of  Navigation,  and  the  Steamboat- 
Inspection  Service.  The  three  remaining  biu-eaus  of  the  Depart- 
ment (the  Bureau  of  Standards,  at  Pierce  Mill  Road;  the  Bureau  of 
Fisheries,  at  the  comer  of  Sixth  and  B  Streets  SW. ;  and  the  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey,  at  New  Jersey  Avenue  near  B  Street  SE.) 
occupy  government  owned  buildings. 

On  the  morning  of  June  17,  1903,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Nation 's  flag  was  raised  for  the  first  time 
over  the  new  Department,  and  its  headquarters  was  formally  placed 
in  commission.  The  entire  personnel  of  the  Department  assembled 
at  the  flagstafip  on  the  roof  with  a  committee  of  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  to  witness  the  ceremony.  Brief  addresses  were  made 
by  Judge  I.  G.  Kimball,  department  commander.  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  Secretary  Cortelyou. 

The  law  creating  the  Department  transferred  to  it  on  July  i, 
1903,  certain  departments  and  bureaus  which  had  theretofore  been 
independent  offices  or  tinder  the  older  executive  departments,  and 
this  important  date  in  the  life  of  the  new  Department  was  marked 
by  the  assembling  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  its  general  officers 
and  a  number  of  distinguished  guests.  The  speakers  on  this  occa- 
sion were  Rev.  Franklin  Noble;  Rev.  D,  J.  Stafford;  Secretary 
Moody,  of  the  Navy  Department;  S.  N.  D.  North,  Director  of  the 
Census;  and  H.  B.  F,  Macfarland,  Commissioner  of  the  District  of 
Columbia. 

Secretary  Cortelyou  made  an  address  in  which  he  recounted  the 
work  of  preliminary  organization,  and  spoke  of  the  great  opportu- 
.  nities  before  the  Department  in  aiding  and  guiding  the  commerce 
and  industries  of  the  country  and  of  the  principles  upon  which  the 
Department  would  administer  the  laws  defining  its  powers.  In 
closing,  he  said: 

No  other  department  has  a  wider  field,  if  the  just  expectations 
of  the  framers  of  the  legislation  are  realized.  None  will  have 
closer  relations  with  the  people  or  greater  opportunities  for  effective 
work.  While  we  can  not  dedicate  a  new  and  imposing  structiu-e 
to  the  uses  of  the  Department,  we  can  at  least,  and  I  am  sure  we 
all  do,  dedicate  ourselves  to  the  work  which  Chief  Executives  have 
recommended  and  Congress  in  its  wisdom  has  set  apart  to  be  done. 


Origin  and  Organization  15 

In  this  spirit  I  have  thought  it  altogether  fitting  and  proper  that 
we  should  have  these  brief  exercises,  and  that  in  them  we  should 
emphasize  the  fact  that  if  we  are  to  have  the  highest  success  as  a 
nation  in  our  commercial  and  industrial  relations,  whether  among 
ourselves  or  with  other  peoples,  we  must  keep  ever  to  the  front  and 
dominant  always  those  sturdy  elements  of  character  and  the 
dependence  upon  Divine  guidance  which  were  so  signally  shown 
by  the  founders  of  the  Republic,  and  to  which  we  can  not  too  often 
revert  in  these  busy  and  prosperous  times  which  make  memorable 
for  us  the  opening  years  of  the  new  century. 

The  Department  of  Gimmerce,  as  at  present  constituted,  in 
addition  to  the  offices  and  divisions  in  the  immediate  Office  of  the 
Secretary,  consists  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Census,  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey,  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  (to  which  the  adminis- 
tration of  laws  and  regulations  governing  Alaskan  fur-seal  and  sal- 
mon fisheries  and  fur-bearing  animals  has  been  assigned),  the  Biu-eau 
of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  (which  has  among  its  duties 
the  direction  of  the  work  of  commercial  attaches  at  foreign  capitals 
and  of  commercial  agents  at  home  and  abroad),  the  Bureau  of 
Lighthouses  and  the  Lighthouse  Service,  the  Biu"eau  of  Naviga- 
tion (imder  which  are  the  Shipping  and  Radio  Services),  the 
Bureau  of  Standards,  and  the  Steamboat-Inspection  Service. 

Most  of  these  bureaus  and  services  were  transferred  to  the  Depart- 
ment on  July  I,  1903,  by  the  act  of  February  14,  1903,  known  as  the 
organic  act.  The  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  the  Bureaus  of 
Lighthouses  (formerly  the  Lighthouse  Board),  Navigation,  and 
Standards,  and  the  Steamboat- Inspection  Service  were  previously 
under  the  Treasury  Department  and  the  Bureau  of  the  Census  was 
in  the  Interior  Department,  while  prior  to  July  i,  1903,  the  Bureau 
of  Fisheries  was  an  independent  office  (not  assigned  to  any  depart- 
ment). The  Alaskan  fur-seal  fisheries  also  were  formerly  in  the 
Treasury  Department. 

The  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce  is  a  consolida- 
tion (effected  by  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropria- 
tion act  of  August  23,  i9i2)of  the  former  Bureaus  of  Manufactures 
and  Statistics,  the  first  of  which  was  created  by  the  act  of  February 
14,  1903,  and  the  second  was  transferred  to  the  Department  by  the 
same  act,  being  a  consolidation  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the 
Treasury  Department  and  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  of  the 
State  Department. 

A  short  history  and  description  of  the  work  of  each  of  these  sev- 
eral biu'eaus  appears  imder  its  respective  heading. 


i6  Dep artment  of  C ommerce 

The  act  approved  September  26,  1914,  creating  a  Federal  Trade 
Commission,  provides  that  upon  the  organization  of  the  commis- 
sion and  the  election  of  its  chairman  the  Bureau  of  Corporations, 
which  was  created  by  this  Department's  organic  act,  shall  cease 
to  exist,  and  that  all  clerks  and  employees  of  this  Bureau  shall  be 
transferred  to  and  become  clerks  and  employees  of  the  commission. 


DUTIES  ASSIGNED   TO  OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY. 

The  duties  of  the  Office  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  are  largely 
of  a  supervisory  nature,  but  embrace  also  some  matters  not  properly 
coming  directly  under  one  of  the  several  bureaus  of  the  Depart- 
ment. The  organization  consists  of  the  offices  of  the  Secretary, 
Assistant  Secretary,  Solicitor,  and  Chief  Clerk,  the  Disbursing 
Office,  the  Appointment  Division,  and  the  Divisions  of  Publica- 
tions and  Supplies.  Each  of  these  units  has  assigned  to  it  certain 
well-defined  duties,  as  indicated  under  the  headings  which  follow. 

SECRETARY  OF  COMMERCE. 

The  organic  act  of  February  14,  1903,  creating  the  Department, 
as  modified  by  the  act  of  March  4,  1913,  creating  the  Department 
of  Labor,  provides  for  a  Secretary  of  Commerce,  whose  term  of  office 
shall  be  the  same  as  that  of  other  Cabinet  officers.  The  provisions 
of  Title  IV  of  the  Revised  Statutes  with  amendments  thereto  are 
■  made  applicable  to  this  Department.  The  organic  act  also  pro- 
vides for  an  Assistant  Secretary,  a  Chief  Clerk,  and  a  Disbtu-sing 
Clerk. 

Under  its  organic  act  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Department  to  foster, 
promote,  and  develop  the  foreign  and  domestic  commerce,  the 
mining,  manufacturing,  shipping,  and  fishery  industries,  and  the 
transportation  facilities  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  is  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  carrying  out  the 
piupose  of  the  Department  as  thus  broadly  outlined.  Specifically, 
however,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Secretary  may  be  briefly 
summarized  as  follows: 

The  administration  of  the  Lighthouse  Service,  including  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  aids  to  navigation. 

The  taking  of  the  census. 

The  making  of  coast  and  'geodetic  surveys. 


Office  of  the  S  ecre  tary  17 

The  collection  and  publication  of  statistics  on  foreign  and  domes- 
tic commerce,  and  the  promotion  and  development  of  the  foreign 
and  domestic  commerce  of  the  United  States. 

The  investigation  of  the  cost  of  production,  including  field 
investigation  at  home  and  abroad. 

The  inspection  of  steamboats  and  the  enforcement  of  laws  per- 
taining thereto  for  the  protection  of  life  and  property. 

The  propagation  and  distribution  of  useful  food  fishes  and  the 
supervising  of  Alaskan  fur-seal  and  salmon  fisheries. 

Jiuisdiction  over  merchant  vessels,  including  their  registry, 
measurement,  licensing,  entry,  clearance,  etc.,  and  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  act  requiring  wireless  equipment  on  vessels. 

The  standardization  of  weights  and  mcasiu-es. 

The  formulation  of  regulations  (in  conjunction  with  the  Secre- 
taries of  the  Treasury  and  Agriculture)  for  the  enforcement  of  the 
food  and  drugs  act  and  the  insecticide  act. 

It  is  the  further  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  to  make  such 
special  investigations  and  furnish  such  information  to  the  President 
or  Congress  as  may  be  required  by  them  on  the  foregoing  subject 
matters  and  to  make  annual  reports  to  Congress  upon  the  work  of 
his  Department. 

By  the  act  of  March  2,  1907,  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  is  created 
a  trustee  of  the  Foundation  for  the  Promotion  of  Industrial  Peace. 

ASSISTANT  SECRETARY. 

The  Assistant  Secretary  performs  such  duties  as  are  prescribed  by 
the  Secretary,  and  in  his  absence  acts  as  head  of  the  Department. 

SOLICITOR. 

The  office  of  the  Solicitor  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  was 
authorized  by  the  legislative  act  of  March  18,  1904.  The  Solicitor, 
who  is  an  officer  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  is  the  chief  law  officer 
of  the  Department.  His  duties  are  to  act  as  legal  adviser  to  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  the  chiefs  of  the  various  biu-eaus,  and 
to  render  opinions  on  questions  of  law  arising  in  the  course  of 
business  in  the  Department.  He  prepares  and  examines  all  con- 
tracts and  bonds  entered  into  or  required  by  the  Department,  and 
has  charge  of  the  preparation  of  all  legal  papers  to  which  the  Depart- 
ment is  a  party.    He  also  renders  such  legal  service  in  connection 

77442»— 15 3 


l8  Department  of  Commerce 

with  matters  arising  in  the  administrative  work  as  may  be  required 
of  him  by  the  Secretary  or  the  Attorney  General. 

The  Assistant  Solicitor,  who  acts  as  Solicitor  in  the  absence  of  the 
latter,  is  charged  with  the  general  superintendence  of  the  clerical 
force  of  the  ofiBce.  He  also  has  general  charge  of  the  preparation 
and  examination  of  all  legal  papers  of  the  Department,  and  performs 
other  legal  service  in  connection  with  the  work  of  the  ofiSce. 

CHIEF  CLERK  AND  SUPERINTENDENT. 

The  Chief  Clerk  and  Superintendent  enforces  the  general  regula- 
tions of  the  Department,  exercises  general  supervision  over  its  em- 
ployees, and  superintends  all  of  the  Department's  buildings  in  the 
District  of  Columbia.  He  is  charged  with  the  general  supervision 
of  all  expenditures  from  the  appropriations  for  contingent  expenses 
and  rent;  the  receipt,  distribution,  and  transmission  of  the  mail; 
the  telegraph  and  telephones;  the  library  and  the  stock  and  ship- 
ping section  of  the  Department;  and  of  all  the  property  and  equip- 
ment of  the  Department.  He  also  discharges  all  business  of  a 
miscellaneous  character  which  does  not  come  specifically  within 
the  scope  of  one  of  the  regular  bureaus. 

DISBURSING  CLERK. 

ITie  Disbursing  Clerk,  whose  office  was  created  by  the  act  estab- 
lishing the  Department,  has  general  supervision  of  the  financial 
transactions  of  the  Department.  In  his  office  are  kept  the  appro- 
priation ledgers  covering  all  appropriations  made  for  the  support 
of  the  Department,  and  all  transactions,  whether  by  the  Treasury 
Department  or  any  bureau  or  office  of  the  Department,  affecting 
those  appropriations  are  recorded  therein. 

It  is  his  duty  to  prepare  for  submission  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  to  be  forwarded  to  Congress  in  accordance  with  law,  all 
estimates  covering  appropriations  desired  for  the  various  activities 
of  the  Department. 

He  disburses  all  appropriations  made  for  the  support  of  the 
Department  with  the  exception  of  those  for  the  support  of  the 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  and  most  of  the  appropriations  for  the 
Lighthouse  Service  at  large,  which  are  disbursed  by  special  dis- 
bursing agents  appointed  for  that  purpose. 

He  prepares  for  tlie  signature  of  the  Secretary  all  requisitions  for 
advances  of  ftuids  from  appropriations  under  the  control  of  the 


Offi ce  of  the  Secretary  19 

Department,  and  makes  the  proper  entries  in  the  appropriation 
records  of  the  Department  kept  in  his  ofBce. 

All  claims  against  the  Department  received  for  payment  by  the 
Disbursing  Clerk  are  given  an  examination  to  determine  whether 
they  are  legal  claims  against  the  Government  and  are  paid  either 
by  check  or  by  cash,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  accoimt. 

The  collections  by  the  Department  covering  amounts  for  property 
sold  and  various  other  miscellaneous  receipts  are  handled  through 
and  accotinted  for  in  the  office  of  the  Disbursing  Clerk. 

APPOINTMENT  DIVISION. 

The  Appointment  Division  was  organized  in  February,  1904. 
The  position  of  Chief  of  the  Division  was  created  by  the  act  making 
appropriations  for  the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  expenses 
of  the  Government  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1907. 

The  duties  of  the  Appointment  Division  involve  the  supervision 
of  matters  relating  to  appointments,  transfers,  promotions,  reduc- 
tions, removals,  and  all  other  changes  in  the  personnel,  including 
applications  for  positions  and  recommendations  concerning  the 
same,  and  the  correspondence  connected  therewith;  the  prepara- 
tion and  submission  to  the  Secretary  of  all  questions  affecting 
the  personnel  of  the  Department  in  its  relations  to  the  civil- 
service  law  and  rules;  the  preparation  of  nominations  sent  to  the 
Senate  and  of  commissions  and  appointments  of  all  officers  and 
employees  of  the  Department;  the  preparation  of  official  bonds; 
the  compilation  of  statistics  in  regard  to  the  personnel,  including 
material  for  the  Official  Register,  and  the  custody  of  oaths  of  office, 
records  pertaining  to  official  bonds,  service  records  of  officers  and 
employees,  correspondence  and  reports  relating  to  the  personnel, 
reports  of  bureau  officers  respecting  the  efficiency  of  employees,  and 
records  relating  to  leaves  of  absence.  The  Chief  of  the  Division 
signs  notices  of  appointments  and  other  changes  affecting  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  Department. 

DIVISION  OP  PUBLICATIONS. 

The  preliminary  work  looking  to  the  organization  of  the  Division 
of  Publications  was  begun  in  April,  1903,  by  the  detail  of  a  clerk 
from  the  then  Bureau  of  Statistics,  one  of  the  bureaus  transferred  to 
the  new  Department  by  the  act  of  February  14,  1903,  though  the 


Department  of  Commerce 


Division  was  not  formally  organized  until  July  i,  IQ03.  The  pur- 
pose in  creating  a  division  of  publications  was  to  have  in  one  central 
office  complete  control  over  the  Department's  publication  work 
and  over  all  expenditures  for  the  same,  in  order  to  secure  uni- 
formity and  effect  economy.  The  Division  is  charged  with  the 
conduct  of  the  business  which  the  Department  transacts  with  the 
Government  Printing  Office,  and  with  general  supervision  over 
all  printing  for  the  Department,  including  editing  and  preparing 
copy,  illustrating  and  binding,  and  keeping  records  of  expenditures. 
It  has  in  charge  also  the  distribution  of  publications,  the  mainte- 
nance of  mailing  lists,  the  advertising  done  by  the  Department, 
and  the  correspondence  which  its  various  duties  entail. 

DIVISION  OP  SUPPUES. 

The  Division  of  Supplies  is  charged,  under  the  immediate  direc- 
tion of  the  Chief  Clerk,  with  the  purchase  and  distribution  of  all  sup- 
plies for  the  use  of  the  Department  in  Washington,  except  certain 
supplies  for  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  and  the  Bureau  of  Stand- 
ards. It  also  purchases  and  distributes  office  supplies  and  equip- 
ment for  the  field  services.  All  accounts  under  the  appropriations 
for  contingent  expenses  and  rent  are  maintained  in  this  Division. 

The  Chief  of  the  Division  of  Supplies,  by  virtue  of  an  order  of 
the  Secretary,  is  Auditor  of  Property  Rettuns,  and  a  record  of  all 
property  in  the  custody  of  those  bureaus  and  offices  of  the  Depart- 
ment rendering  rettuns  to  the  Secretary  is  maintained  in  his  office. 
He  is,  by  virtue  of  an  order  of  the  Secretary,  Chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Survey,  for  the  examination  and  condemnation  of  un- 
serviceable property  and  the  disposition  of  same  by  public  auction 
or  otherwise.  The  record  of  all  sales  of  property  belonging  to  the 
Department  within  the  District  of  Columbia  are  maintained  in 
his  office. 

The  annual  contracts  made  by  the  Department  for  the  hauling 
of  ashes  and  rubbish,  the  laundering  of  towels,  the  shoeing  of 
horses,  and  the  care  of  clocks  are  handled  in  the  Division. 


BUREAU  OF  THE  CENSUS. 

HISTORICAL. 

Decennial  censuses,  lygo-igoo. — Before  the  adoption  of  tlie  Con- 
stitution, which  provided  for  a  decennial  enumeration  on  which 
to  base  representation  and  direct  taxation,  estimates  of  the  colonial 
population  had  been  purely  conjectural.  The  first  enumeration 
after  the  establishment  of  our  present  form  of  government  was 
made,  under  the  act  of  March  i,  1790,  by  United  States  marshals, 
who  made  their  returns  to  the  President.  Each  marshal  was 
empowered  to  employ  as  many  assistants  as  he  deemed  necessary. 
The  decennial  enumerations  continued  to  be  made  by  United 
States  marshals  and  their  assistants  until  and  including  the  census 
of  1870.  Beginning  with  the  Second  Census  (1800),  the  Secretary 
of  State  had  general  supervision,  until  the  establishment  of  the 
Department  of  the  Interior  (1849),  when  the  Census  Office  was 
placed  under  that  Department,  where  it  remained  until  1903. 
On  July  I  of  that  year,  under  the  act  approved  February  14,  1903, 
it  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of  Commerce.  By  order  of 
the  Secretary,  dated  July  i,  1903,  the  name  "Bureau  of  the 
Census"  was  adopted. 

In  January,  1800,  two  learned  societies  memorialized  Congress 
to  enlarge  the  scope  of  the  census  inquiries,  and  Congress  provided 
for  the  collection,  at  the  Third  Census  (1810),  of  certain  industrial 
statistics  upxan  schedules  prepared  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
At  this  enumeration  "an  actual  inquiry  at  every  dwelling  house" 
was  prescribed. 

At  the  Fourth  Census  (1820)  a  limited  number  of  industrial 
and  occupation  statistics  were  gathered.  The  Fifth  Census  (1830) 
related  to  population  only,  and  for  tlie  first  time  imiform  printed 
schedules  were  used.  The  Sixth  Census  (1840)  extended  its  in- 
quiries to  occupations  of  the  people  and  included  industrial  and 


Department  of  Commerce 


commercial  statistics.  The  census  of  1840  marks  the  beginning 
of  an  effort  to  make  the  decennial  enumeration  the  instrument  for 
ascertaining  something  beyond  the  mere  number  of  persons  of 
each  sex  and  the  numbers  embraced  within  each  of  certain  broad 
age  groupings.  Prior  to  that  census  nothing  had  been  done  sj^ 
tematically  to  show  the  growth  and  development  of  the  country's 
industries  and  resources. 

The  Department  of  the  Interior  took  up  the  supervision  of  the 
census  in  1849,  the  first  to  be  taken  imder  its  direction  being  the 
Seventh  Census  (1850).  At  this  census  six  schedules  were  used, 
relating,  respectively,  to  (i)  free  inhabitants,  (2)  slave  inhabitants, 
(3)  mortality,  (4)  productions  of  agriculttire,  (5)  products  of  indus- 
try, and  (6)  social  statistics.  This  radical  enlargement  of  the  sta- 
tistical field  covered  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  census  taking 
in  the  United  States. 

The  Eighth  (i860)  and  Ninth  (1870)  Censuses  were  taken  tmder 
the  act  of  May  23,  1850,  which  provided  for  and  governed  the 
Seventh  Census.  The  work  of  the  Eighth  Census  was  completed 
under  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  OflBce.  Tallying 
machines  were  first  used  in  the  Ninth  Census. 

In  1869  and  1870  a  special  committee  of  Congress  investigated  in 
detail  census  needs,  and  the  report  of  its  chairman,  General  Garfield, 
formed  the  groundwork  of  the  Tenth  Census. 

An  unsuccessful  effort  to  establish  a  quinquennial  census  was 
made  in  1875. 

The  Superintendent  of  Census  was  first  appointed  by  the  Presi- 
dent, by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  at  the 
Tenth  Census  (1880),  the  duties  pertaining  to  this  position  having 
theretofore  been  discharged  by  a  superintending  clerk  or  superin- 
tendent, appointed  by  the  head  of  the  Department  to  which  the 
Census  OflBce  was  attached.  At  this  census  (1880)  the  services  of 
United  States  marshals  were  dispensed  with,  and  supervisors  of 
census  were  appointed  by  the  President  and  confirmed  by  the 
Senate,  the  supervisors,  in  turn,  nominating  enumerators  in  their 
respective  districts.  The  tallying  machines  introduced  at  the 
Ninth  Census  were  again  employed  at  the  census  of  1880. 

Provision  was  made  in  the  census  act  of  1880  for  an  interdecen- 
nial  census,  in  1885,  by  any  State  or  Territory,  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment to  bear  a  portion  of  the  expense.  Three  States  and  two 
Territories  availed  themselves  of  this  opportunity. 


Bureau  of  the  Census  23 


The  census  of  1880,  in  the  variety  of  its  investigations  and  in  com- 
pleteness of  detail,  marks  the  beginning  of  the  third  era  in  census 
taking  in  this  country.  The  enumerations  prior  to  1850  had  in 
efiFect  amounted  to  little  more  than  a  count  of  the  population,  and 
its  classification  according  to  sex  and  broad  age  groups,  though 
some  advance  along  the  line  of  industrial  statistics  had  been  made. 
The  three  censuses  taken  under  the  law  of  1850,  although  decided 
improvements  over  the  earlier  enumerations,  were  deficient  in 
many  respects.  The  census  of  1880,  by  reason  of  the  changes  made 
in  the  methods  of  supervising  and  collecting  data,  and  of  the  em- 
ployment of  experts  to  make  special  investigations,  enabled  the 
Nation  to  know  more  acciu-ately  the  facts  concerning  its  population, 
wealth,  industries,  and  varied  resoiu-ces. 

The  census  of  1890  was  taken  along  the  same  comprehensive  lines 
as  the  preceding  census.  It  was  not  intended  originally  to  follow 
the  plan  of  the  Tenth  Census,  but  the  law  of  March  i,  1889,  under 
which  the  Eleventh  Census  was  taken,  supplemented  by  later  legis- 
lation requiring  information  as  to  "farms,  homes,  and  mortgages," 
resulted  in  practically  as  many  different  subjects  of  inquiry.  The 
work  of  the  census  was  assigned  to  25  divisions,  each  devoted  to 
some  special  branch  or  feature.  An  electrical  system  of  tabulation 
was  used  for  the  first  time  in  compiling  the  statistics  relating  to 
population  and  mortality  and  to  crime,  pauperism,  and  benevo- 
lence. The  work  was  completed  by  the  Commissioner  of  Ivabor, 
by  direction  of  Congress. 

The  census  of  1900  was  taken  under  the  act  of  March  3,  1899,  by 
which  the  Director  of  the  Census  was  given  entire  control  of  the 
work,  including  the  appointment  of  the  statisticians,  clerks,  and 
other  employees  of  the  Census  Office.  The  decennial  work  was 
limited  to  inquiries  relating  to  population,  mortality,  agricultiure, 
and  manufactiyes,  but  provision  was  made  for  the  collection  of 
statistics  relating  to  various  special  subjects  after  the  completion 
of  the  decennial  work.  This  division  of  the  work  constituted  a 
radical  departure  from  the  com^e  pursued  at  the  censtises  of  1880  and 
1890,  at  which  the  effort  was  made  to  carry  on,  practically  simul- 
.  taneously,  the  work  relating  to  twenty  or  more  distinct  subjects  of 
investigation.  The  general  reports  of  the  Twelfth  Census,  com- 
prised in  ten  quarto  voliunes,  were  published,  in  conformity  with 
the  requirements  of  the  census  act,  on  or  before  July  i,  1902,  or 
within  two  years  from  the  date  set  for  the  legal  termination  of  the 


34  Department  of  Commerce 

enumeration  work.  The  system  of  electrical  tabulation,  intro- 
duced at  the  Eleventh  Ccxisus,  was  again  employed  in  the  work  of 
the  Twelfth,  after  a  competitive  test,  and  was  utilized  to  advantage 
in  the  tabulation  of  the  statistics  of  population,  mortality,  and 
agriculture. 

Establishment  of  permanent  bureau. — ^The  necessity  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  permanent  statistical  bureau  to  which  the  work  of  the 
decennial  census  might  also  be  intrusted  was  recognized,  indirectly 
at  least,  as  early  as  1845,  and  recommendations  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  national  bureau  of  statistics  were  embodied  in  the  annual 
reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  for  the  years  i860  to  1865, 
inclusive. 

Similar  suggestions  were  made  at  later  dates  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  central  bureau  of  statistics  at  Washington,  but  no  direct 
action  toward  providing  for  a  permanent  census  office,  as  such,  was 
taken  by  Congress  until  February  16,  1891,  when  the  Senate 
directed  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  to  consider  and  report  on  the 
expediency  of  the  establishment  of  a  permanent  census  biu-eau. 
No  final  action  in  the  matter  was  taken  by  Congress,  however,  and 
nothing  more  was  done  until  March  19,  1896,  when  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Labor  was  directed  to  report  to  Congress  for  its  considera- 
tion, as  soon  as  practicable,  a  plan  for  a  permanent  census  service. 
The  Commissioner  of  Labor,  under  date  of  December  7,  1896,  re- 
ported, as  thus  directed,  a  tentati^^e  organic  administrative  act  by 
which  a  census  office,  independent  of  any  of  the  executive  depart- 
ments, was  to  be  established,  leaving  the  details  of  the  Twelfth 
and  subsequent  censuses  to  the  officers  having  them,  respectively, 
in  charge.  Nothing  came  of  this  effort,  however,  and  no  provision 
was  made  for  a  permanent  census  office  until  the  passage  of  the  act 
of  March  6,  1902,  which  made  permanent,  after  June  30,  1902,  the 
Census  Office  temporarily  established  by  the  act  of  March  3,  1899. 
The  act  approved  July  2,  1909  (36  Stat.,  i),  entitled  "An  act  to 
provide  for  the  Thirteenth  and  subsequent  decennial  censuses," 
and  several  later  acts  of  varying  though  less  importance,  amplified 
considerably  the  duties  of  the  Bureau  and  constitute  the  larger 
part  of  the  law  under  which  it  now  operates. 

WORK  OF  THE  BUREAU. 

The  Bureau  of  the  Census  is  charged  with  the  duty  of  taking 
the  decennial  censuses  of  the  United  States,  of  making  certain 


Bureau  of  the  Census  25 

other  statistical  investigations  at  regular  intervals,  and  of  collect- 
ing such  special  statistics  as  may  be  authorized  by  law  from  time 
to  time.  The  last  decennial  census  (1910)  covered  the  subjects  of 
population,  manufactures,  mines  and  quarries,  and  agriculture. 
An  intermediate  census  of  manufactures  is  taken  in  the  fifth  year 
after  the  decennial  census.  The  act  establishing  the  permanent 
Census  Bureau  requires  that,  after  the  completion  of  the  regular 
decennial  census,  the  Director  of  the  Census  shall  decennially  collect 
statistics  relative  to  the  defective,  dependent,  and  delinquent 
classes;  crime,  including  judicial  statistics  pertaining  thereto;  social 
statistics  of  cities;  public  indebtedness,  expenditures,  and  taxa- 
tion; religious  bodies;  transportation  by  water,  and  express  busi- 
ness; savings  banks  and  other  savings  institutions;  mortgage,  loan, 
and  similar  institutions;  and  the  fishing  industry,  in  cooperation 
with  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries.  Every  five  years  statistics  must  be 
collected  relating  to  street  and  electric  railways,  electric  light  and 
power  stations,  and  the  telephone  and  telegraph  industries. 
Biennially  the  Official  Register  of  the  United  States  is  prepared 
and  published.  Annual  statistics  must  be  gathered  relating  to 
births  and  deaths  in  States  and  cities  maintaining  efficient  regis- 
tration systems;  the  finances  of  cities  having  a  population  of  30,000 
and  over;  the  production  and  distribution  of  cotton;  and  the  quan- 
tity of  leaf  tobacco  on  hand. 

The  carrying  on  of  these  inquiries  involves  the  collection  of  the 
necessary  data  by  mail  or  by  personal  visits  of  employees  to  indi- 
viduals and  commercial  establishments;  the  subsequent  assembling, 
tabulation,  and  compilation  of  the  information  secured;  and  the 
publication  in  reports  of  tables  setting  forth  the  data,  with  com- 
parisons, percentages,  averages,  textual  comment,  maps,  and  dia- 
grams. These  reports  form  a  list  of  publications  which  in  the 
course  of  ten  years  comprises  upward  of  400  unbound  or  paper- 
bound  bulletins  of  a  more  or  less  temporary  character,  and  over 
50  bound  quarto  volumes. 

The  following  brief  statement  conveys  only  a  superficial  idea 
of  the  work  involved  in  carrying  on  the  functions  mentioned : 
,  Decennial  census  of  population. — The  last  decennial  census  was 
taken  as  of  April  15,  1910.  The  general  methods  are  as  follows: 
Data  concerning  each  individual  with  regard  to  name,  sex,  color 
or  race,  age,  marital  condition,  nativity,  citizenship,  language, 
occupation,    education,    etc.,    are    collected    and   transferred    to 

77442°— 15 4 


26  Department  of  Commerce 

printed  schedules  by  enumerators  who  make  a  house-to-house 
canvass  under  the  direction  of  supervisors.  These  schedules  are 
then  forwarded  to  the  Bureau.  The  oflBce  work  consists  of  the 
following  steps:  (i)  A  coimt  of  the  population  direct  from  the 
schedules  for  the  purpose  of  calculating  the  pay  of  the  enumerators, 
and  in  order  that,  after  subsequent  careful  examination  of  the 
schedules  to  determine  their  accuracy,  the  population  of  the 
various  localities  and  States,  and  ultimately  of  the  United  States 
as  a  whole,  may  be  annoimced  as  promptly  as  possible;  (2)  such 
editing  of  the  schedules  as  is  necessary  to  prepare  them  for  the 
punching  clerks,  particularly  with  reference  to  the  returns  of 
mother  tongue  and  occupation;  (3)  the  pimching  of  a  card  for 
each  individual  making  up  the  population,  showing,  by  the  posi- 
tions of  the  pimched  holes,  all  the  facts  appearing  on  the  schedule 
concerning  him,  this  work  being  done  by  means  of  a  machine; 

(4)  the  verification  of  the  cards  by  means  of  electrical  machines 
which  automatically  reject  cards  in  which  any  of  the  required 
holes  have  not  been  punched  or  in  which  the  holes  are  incon- 
sistent with  each  other,  and  the  correction  of  such  rejected  cards; 

(5)  the  sorting  of  the  cards  by  means  of  electrical  sorting  machines 
into  main  groups,  as  determined,  for  example,  by  sex,  color,  or 
nativity,  several  different  sortings  being  required  at  the  different 
stages  of  the  work;  (6)  the  tabulation  of  the  data  indicated  on 
the  cards  by  means  of  electrical  tabulating  machines,  it  being 
necessary  to  run  the  cards  through  the  machines  several  times 
in  order  to  take  off  all  of  the  data;  (7)  the  compilation  of  the 
statistics  for  publication. 

Decennial  census  of  agriculture. — A  separate  schedule  is  provided 
for  each  individual  farm  and  contains  numerous  questions  per- 
taining to  the  farm  and  its  productions,  including  name  and  address 
of  farmer  and  his  color  or  race,  country  of  birth,  and  age;  acreage, 
value,  and  tenure  of  farm;  number  and  value  of  domestic  animals; 
quantity  and  value  of  live-stock  products;  and  acreage,  quantity, 
and  value  of  crops.  These  data  are  collected  and  transferred 
to  the  schedules  by  the  enumerators  of  the  population  census,  and 
are  tabulated  in  the  office  by  the  aid  of  adding  machines. 

Decennial  census  of  mines  and  quarries. — This  inquiry  is  made 
by  the  Bureau  of  the  Census  in  collaboration  with  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  which  collects  annual  statistics  of  min- 
eral production.     The  investigation  covers,  among  other  items, 


Bureau  of  the  Census  aj 

such  matters  as  geographic  distribution  of  industry;  nature  of 
organization;  value  of  products;  capital  invested;  expenses  of 
operation  and  development;  number,  sex,  and  age  of  persons 
engaged;  hours  of  labor;  land  tenure;  and  power.  The  infor- 
mation is  collected  on  schedules  by  special  agents  or  by  clerks 
detailed  from  the  office,  a  general  schedule  for  all  establishments, 
as  well  as  numerous  special-industry  schedules,  being  used.  The 
statistics  on  the  schedules  are  examined  in  the  office  and  are 
tabulated  by  the  use  of  adding  machines. 

Quinquennial  census  of  manufactures. — ^This  census  covers  all 
manufacturing  establishments  conducted  under  what  is  known 
as  the  factory  system,  exclusive  of  so-called  neighborhood,  house- 
hold, and  hand  industries,  but  including  steam  latmdries.  By  a 
special  provision  of  the  Thirteenth  Census  Act,  retail  slaughtering 
establishments  are  also  canvassed  in  order  to  secure  an  enumeration 
of  animals  slaughtered  for  food  and  of  hides  procured.  The  inquiry 
as  to  manufactures  covers  character  of  ownership  of  the  establish- 
ment; number,  sex,  and  age  of  wage  earners  and  other  persons 
engj^ed;  and  capital,  wages,  cost  of  material,  other  expenses,  and 
value  of  products.  Additional  data  are  also  ascertained  with 
regard  to  the  quantities  of  the  principal  products  manufactured 
and  of  the  principal  materials  used.  This  information  is  col- 
lected and  tabulated  in  substantially  the  same  manner  as  that 
obtained  in  the  mines  and  quarries  inquiry. 

Biennial  preparation  of  Official  Register  of  ike  United  States. — The 
Official  Register  is  published  about  December  i  of  each  year  in 
which  a  new  Congress  assembles,  and  relates  to  the  preceding  July  i. 
In  it  are  listed,  by  name,  in  alphabetical  order,  all  Federal  civilian 
employees  except  those  in  the  Postal  Service.  Limited  data  as  to 
office  in  which  employed,  salary,  legal  residence,  etc.,  are  included. 

Annual  inquiries. — The  collection  of  statistics  of  cities  involves  the 
abstracting,  from  the  office  records  of  mtmicipalities  having  a  popula- 
'tion  of  30,000  and  over,  of  data  relating  to  the  total  expenditures  for 
city  government  and  for  specified  public  services  and  objects,  the 
revenue  derived  from  all  sources  and  from  each  specified  source, 
and  the  amoimt  and  character  of  mimicipal  debt.  The  information 
is  secured  on  schedules  by  employees  sent  from  the  Bureau  to  the 
various  cities,  the  results  being  compiled  in  the  office.  Special 
inquiries  as  to  the  operations  of  particular  branches  of  city  admin- 
istration— such  as  those  in  charge  of  schools,  of  parks,  of  sewers,  etc. — 
are  made  from  time  to  time. 


a8  Department  of  Commerce 

The  work  of  gatliering  statistics  of  births  and  deaths  involves 
the  receipt  and  recording  of  transcripts  of  the  original  certificates 
thereof,  furnished  by  persons  selected  for  the  purpose  by  the  State 
and  city  authorities.  The  transcripts  are  tabulated  in  the  office 
by  methods  similar  to  those  used  in  the  population  census.  The 
greater  part  of  this  work  is  in  connection  with  death  statistics, 
which  are  compiled  so  as  to  show  general  and  specific  death  rates; 
simimaries  of  deaths,  by  causes,  sex,  and  age,  by  color  and  nativity, 
and  by  urban  and  rural  localities;  and  average  death  rates  in  States 
and  cities. 

The  cotton  statistics  assembled  by  the  Bureau  are  collected  in 
the  cotton-producing  States  by  local  agents,  and  elsewhere  by  mail 
or  by  employees  detailed  from  the  office.  The  results  of  the  can- 
vass are  issued  in  the  form  of  annual  reports  on  the  production, 
distribution,  and  consumption  of  cotton  and  cottonseed  products; 
monthly  reports  showing  cotton  consumed  and  on  hand  in  manu- 
facturing establishments  and  warehouses;  ten  summaries  showing 
amount  of  cotton  ginned,  compiled  diuing  the  cotton-ginning  sea- 
son from  telegraphic  reports;  and  three  summaries,  compiled  dur- 
ing the  crushing  season,  showing  amounts  of  cotton  seed  crushed 
and  linters  obtained. 

A  semiannual  statement  is  issued  showing  the  amoimt  of  leaf 
tobacco  on  hand  in  factories  and  warehouses. 

Geographer's  division. — ^The  work  of  properly  and  economically 
dividing  the  country  into  enumeration  districts,  and  of  preparing 
maps,  etc.,  to  accompany  and  illustrate  reports,  is  performed  by  a 
staff  of  employees  under  the  charge  of  the  geographer. 

Mechanical  appliances. — ^The  mechanical  appliances  used  in  the 
census  work  include  a  large  number  of  pimching,  sorting,  and  tabu- 
lating machines,  many  of  which  have  been  devised  and  wholly  or 
partially  constructed,  or  have  been  modified,  by  the  mechanical 
force  of  the  Bureau.  This  work,  with  that  of  maintaining  the 
machines  in  operation,  calls  for  a  considerable  amount  of  expert 
service,  the  constant  aim  being  to  produce  improvements  with  a 
view  to  economizing  and  accelerating  the  work  of  the  machines. 
The  mechanical  equipment  used  during  the  Thirteenth  Census 
included  200  hand  punching  machines,  300  electric  punching 
machines,  17  card-sorting  machines,  96  card-tabulating  machines, 
and  over  350  adding  machines. 


Bureau  of  the  Census  ag 

ORGANIZATION. 

The  organization  of  the  Bureau  is  of  a  twofold  nature — one  for 
intercensal  years,  the  other  comprising  a  largely  expanded  force 
during  decennial  "  census  periods. ' '  The  former  is  provided  for  by 
the  act  of  March  6,  1902,  establishing  the  permanent  office,  and  is 
modified  from  time  to  time  by  annual  appropriation  acts.  Special 
provision  is  made  by  Congress  for  the  expanded  force  during  the 
census  period,  which  covers  three  years  beginning  on  July  i  of  the 
year  preceding  that  in  which  the  enumeration  is  made. 

The  permanent  force  may,  briefly,  be  said  to  consist  of  a  Director, 
chief  clerk,  geographer,  four  chief  statisticians,  eight  chiefs  of 
division,  a  small  number  of  expert  special  agents,  and  such  clerks 
and  mechanical  and  subclerical  employees  as  may  be  authorized. 
The  total  fprce  at  present  is  approximately  600.  There  is  also  a 
force  of  special  agents,  numbering  about  750,  who  are  residents  of 
the  cotton-growing  States,  and  whose  duties  (which  are  occasional) 
consist  of  collecting  statistics  of  cotton  ginned,  consumed,  and  on 
hand  in  their  fespective  localities. 

The  force  during  the  census  period  is  expanded  by  the  addition 
of  a  few  officials,  such  as  an  Assistant  Director,  an  appointment 
clerk,  and  a  disbursing  clerk,  and  a  large  number  of  employees  in 
the  clerical  and  subclerical  grades.  During  the  Thirteenth  Census 
period  this  force  in  Washington  reached  a  maximum  of  nearly  4,000. 
Supervisors  and  enumerators,  to  the  numbers  of  approximately  330 
and  70,000,  respectively,  were  also  employed  for  the  actual  enumer- 
ation in  the  field. 

The  force  of  the  Bureau  during  either  census  or  intercensal 
periods  is  divided  into  groups,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  inqui- 
ries which  constitute  its  main  functions.  These  groups  during  a 
census  period  are  as  follows:  (i)  Administrative  force;  (2)  Division 
of  Population;  (3)  Division  of  Agriculture;  (4)  Division  of  Statis- 
tics of  Cities;  (5)  Division  of  Manufactures;  (6)  Division  of  Vital 
Statistics;  (7)  Division  of  Publication;  (8)  Division  of  Revision 
and  Results;  (9)  Geographer's  Division;  and  (10)  mechanical  force. 

The  work  of  these  divisions  is  sufficiently  indicated  by  their 
designations.  Their  strength,  except  in  the  case  of  the  adminis- 
trative force,  varies  considerably  from  time  to  time,  as  the  amount 
of  work  devolving  on  the  divisions  increases  or  diminishes. 


UinTED  STATES  COAST  AND  GEODETIC  SURVEY. 

A  survey  of  the  coast  of  the  United  States  was  authorized  by  act 
of  Congress  of  February  lo,  1807,  and  the  plans  formulated  by 
F.  R.  Hassler,  an  eminent  scientist  of  Swiss  birth,  were  adopted. 
The  necessity  of  securing  instruments  from  abroad  and  the  breaking 
out  of  hostilities  with  Great  Britain  delayed  the  organization  of  the 
Survey  under  the  Treasury  Department  until  1816.  The  work  had 
just  begun  when,  by  act  of  April  14,  1818,  Congress  repealed  so 
much  of  the  statute  of  1807  as  authorized  the  employment  of  other 
than  Army  and  Navy  officers  in  the  Siu-vey. 

No  surveys  were  made  under  the  War  Department,  and  after  a 
full  consideration  of  the  unsatisfactory  results  obtained  in  the 
siuvey  made  under  the  Navy  Department,  as  repeatedly  suggested 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  others.  Congress  revived  the  law 
of  1807,  yfith  somewhat  extended  scope,  by  the  act  of  July  10,  1832, 
and  the  work  was  again  placed  ixnder  the  Treasury  Department. 

On  March  11,  1834,  the  Stirvey  was  transferred  to  the  Navy 
Department,  and  on  March  26,  1836,  it  was  retransferred  by  Presi- 
dent Jackson  to  the  Treasury  Department,  where  it  remained 
until  July  i,  1903,  when  it  was  placed  under  the  Department  of 
Commerce  by  act  of  Congress  approved  February  14,  1903. 

By  the  act  of  March  3,  1843,  prompted  by  suggestions  of  the 
expediency  of  a  retransfer  of  the  Siu-vey  to  the  Navy  Department, 
Congress  provided  that  the  President  should  organize  a  board  to 
make  an  intelligent  and  efficient  inquiry  for  the  development 
of  a  plan  of  permanent  organization  for  the  Survey.  The  report 
of  this  board,  giving  in  detail  its  plan  for  reorganization,  was  ap- 
proved by  the  President  April  29, 1843,  and  the  work  of  the  Survey 
has  ever  since  been  modeled  on  the  lines  then  laid  down.  For 
fifty  years  prior  to  1898  nearly  one-half  of  the  vessels  of  the  Siu^ey 
were  manned  and  officered  by  the  Navy,  but  since  the  war  with 
Spain  these  duties  have  devolved  exclusively  upon  the  officers 
and  employees  of  the  Survey. 

By  including  in  the  appropriation  for  the  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Survey  a  provision  to  "man  and  equip"  the  vessels  of  the  Siu^ey, 
30 


United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  31 

Congress  in  1900  placed  the  service  on  a  purely  civil  basis,  as  at 
present  organized. 

The  name  "Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey"  was  authorized  by  its 
use  in  the  sundry  civil  appropriation  act  approved  June  20,  1878. 

FIELD  WORK. 

The  Survey  is  a  bureau  of  the  Department  of  Commerce,  and  its 
work  is  under  the  direction  of  a  Superintendent  and  an  Assistant 
Superintendent,  with  an  office  at  Washington  and  a  suboffice  at 
Manila,  P.  I.  Its  original  and  principal  duty  was  the  survey  of 
the  coasts  of  the  United  States,  but  many  other  duties  too  numerous 
to  mention  have  been  imposed  by  law  from  time  to  time  as  the 
development  of  its  operations  showed  the  wisdom  of  such  legis- 
lation. 

The  scope  of  the  Survey  has  been  extended  from  time  to  time 
and  now  includes  surveys  of  Alaska,  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  Philip- 
pine Islands,  Porto  Rico,  and  "other  coasts  imder  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States." 

By  joint  resolution  of  February  5,  1889,  the  United  States  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  to 
become  a  party  to  the  International  Geodetic  Association,  and 
delegates  to  meetings  of  the  association  are  by  law  officers  of  the 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President. 

The  use  of  the  facilities  of  the  Survey  for  research  and  study  by 
scientific  investigators  and  students  of  any  institution  of  higher 
education  is  granted  by  law  (31  Stat.,  1039),  and  resolution  of  April 
12,  1892. 

The  general  continental  coast  line  of  the  United  States,  including 
Alaska,  measiires  11,500  miles,  which  is  increased  by  the  indenta- 
tions and  convolutions  of  the  littoral  of  its  tidal  rivers,  islands, 
ba/s,  soimds,  and  gulfs  to  91,000  miles;  and  to  these  figures  must 
be  added,  because  of  the  recently  acquired  insular  possessions, 
5,400  miles  of  general  coast  line  and  12,100  miles  of  detailed  shore 
line.  For  the  use  of  the  mariner  and  surveyor  the  results  of  the 
Survey's  operations  are  published  in  645  charts;  in  Tide  Tables, 
which,  prepared  annually  in  advance  of  the  year  for  which  pre- 
dictions are  made,  give  tlie  daily  high  and  low  values  of  the  tide 
for  each  day  of  the  year  for  the  ports  of  the  United  States  and  for 
the  leading  ports  of  the  world;  in  21  volumes  of  Coast  Pilots  and 
Sailing  Directions;  and  in  weekly  notices  to  mariners,  published 


32  Department  of  Commerce 

in  cooperation  with  the  Bureau  of  Lighthouses.  These  publica- 
tions supply  detailed  information  concerning  the  navigation  of  the 
coasts  and  the  approaches  to  the  harbors  except  in  the  case  of  un- 
surveyed  portions  of  Alaska  and  the  Philippines. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  the  Survey  issues  many  other  publi- 
cations containing  the  results  of  its  work,  which  are  distributed  free 
to  schools,  scientific  institutions,  libraries,  and  individuals  upon 
request. 

A  survey  of  the  Atlantic,  Gulf,  and  Pacific  coasts  of  the  mainland 
of  the  United  States,  except  in  the  case  of  Alaska,  has  been  made, 
but  supplemental  work  is  necessary,  and  also  a  continuous  revision 
on  account  of  changes  due  to  tides  and  currents;  to  the  improve- 
ment of  rivers  and  harbors;  to  the  requirements  of  deep-draft 
vessels  that  are  now  essential  for  the  necessities  of  commerce  and 
national  defense;  and  to  the  needs  of  the  rapidly  increasing  fleet 
of  motor  boats. 

Only  two  steamers  and  one  schooner  owned  by  the  Survey  are 
available  for  this  work  on  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts  and  for  the 
surveys  and  examinations  which  have  to  be  made  to  keep  the 
ixiformation  in  the  Coast  Pilot  volumes  up  to  date. 

On  the  Pacific  coast  only  two  steamers  for  outside  work  and  two 
steamers  and  two  large  launches  for  inshore  work  are  available  to 
meet  the  pressing  demands  for  accurate  siu^veys  in  Alaskan  waters 
and  for  supplemental  and  revision  work  on  the  coast  of  the  United 
States  and  Hawaii. 

The  acquisition  of  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii,  and  the  Philippines 
largely  increased  the  responsibilities  of  the  Survey.  A  siu-vey  of 
Porto  Rico  has  been  made,  but  it  should  be  supplemented  by 
wire-drag  work. 

The  Philippine  archipelago  comprises  3,141  islands  and  islets, 
and  as  there  is  no  point  in  the  group  distant  more  than  60  miles 
from  the  sea  the  importance  of  correct  charting  of  its  vast  system 
of  waterways  is  self-evident.  This  duty  was  one  of  the  first  under- 
taken in  the  islands  by  the  United  States,  and  in  December,  1900, 
a  suboffice  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  was  opened  in  Manila, 
and  astronomic,  topographic,  and  hydrographic  parties  began 
operations  without  delay.  The  importance  of  the  work  in  the 
Philippines  was  at  once  recognized  by  the  insular  government, 
which  from  the   beginning  has  generously  cooperated  with  the 


United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  33 

Survey.  The  field  results  receive  their  preliminary  discussion 
and  are  prepared  for  publication  in  Manila.  A  force  of  native 
draftsmen  is  employed  in  the  Manila  office  in  the  preparation  of 
chart  drawings,  which  are  engraved  and  printed  in  Washington, 
D.  C.  One  steamer,  owned  by  the  Sxu^ey,  and  foiir  steamers 
furnished  by  the  insular  government  and  operated  by  the  Survey 
are  available  for  work  in  the  islands. 

An  important  operation  of  the  Survey  is  the  determination  of 
standard  elevations  of  points  throughout  the  country  by  lines 
forming  a  network  of  precise  levels,  which  incidentally  makes 
available  in  this  form  useful  results  from  the  thousands  of  miles 
of  levels  run  for  works  of  public  improvement. 

Magnetic  surveys  at  sea  and  on  shore,  the  results  of  which  are 
essential  for  the  construction  of  charts  and  necessary  for  the  prop- 
erty and  political  subdivision  of  this  country,  where  the  compass 
has  been  so  generally  used  in  locating  property  and  boundary 
lines,  form  an  important  part  of  the  activities  of  the  Survey. 

In  addition  to  his  other  duties,  the  Superintendent,  as  Commis- 
sioner on  the  part  of  thie  United  States,  is  charged  with  surveying 
and  marking  the  southeastern  boundary  of  Alaska  from  Portland 
Canal  to  Mount  St.  Elias,  and  of  the  meridianal  boundary  from 
Mount  St.  Elias  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  the  field  work  of  which  has 
been  completed.  Also  under  his  direction,  as  Commissioner, 
the  work  of  surveying  and  re-marking  the  northern  boundary 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  except  a  portion  of  the 
water  boundary,  is  in  progress. 

An  officer  of  the  Survey  is  a  member  of  the  Mississippi  River 
Commission. 

OFFICE  WORK. 

The  office  in  Washington  is  the  executive  center  of  the  Service 
and  is  equipped  to  handle  the  wide  range  of  duties  imposed  upon 
the  service  by  law,  with  divisions  dealing  with  the  various  branches 
of  the  work,  which  renders  it  possible  to  prepare  and  publish  all 
information  obtained  in  the  forms  most  useful  to  navigators  and  to 
the  public  at  large. 

In  addition  to  the  administrative  divisions,  the  office  work  is 
handled  by  the  following  divisions:  Computing,  Terrestrial  Magnet- 
ism, Tidal,  Chart  Construction,  Instrument,  and  Tidal  Research. 

77442°— 15 5 


34  Department  of  Commerce 


In  the  Computing  Division  are  discussed  with  the  highest  mathe- 
matical refinement  the  observations  made  in  the  field,  the  results 
being  prepared  for  their  final  publication  and  utilization. 

In  the  Division  of  Terrestrial  Magnetism  the  observations  made 
by  the  parties  in  the  field  and  at  the  magnetic  observatories  are 
reduced  and  prepared  for  publication  in  the  form  of  tables  and 
charts  for  public  use.  Information  in  regard  to  the  magnetic 
variation  in  the  past  is  furnished  to  siuveyors  and  others  interested 
and  the  variation  noted  on  the  compasses  shown  on  the  charts  of 
the  coast  is  verified  before  publication. 

In  the  Tidal  Division  are  discussed  the  tidal  phenomena  on  such  a 
scale  that  the  Tide  Tables  of  the  Survey,  published  annually  in 
advance,  furnish  the  mariner  with  the  values  of  the  high  and  low 
tides  at  3,270  ports  selected  from  all  over  the  world. 

The  Chart  Construction  Division  comprises  the  drawing,  engrav- 
ing, electrotype,  photograph,  and  printing  sections,  all  engaged  in 
the  construction,  maintenance,  and  publication  of  charts.  The 
drawing  section  assembles  and  compiles  all  chart  information 
received,  including  the  results  of  the  topographic  and  hydrographic 
work,  harbor  improvement  surveys  of  the  Army  Engineers,  sur- 
veys by  local  engineers,  additions  and  changes  in  lights  and  buoys, 
and  newly  discovered  rocks  and  other  dangers.  From  this  infor- 
mation new  chart  drawings  are  prepared  for  engraving  or  photo- 
lithography and  old  charts  are  brought  up  to  date.  The  engraving 
section  engraves  the  new  charts  on  copper  plates  and  makes  the 
corrections  required  on  existing  plates.  The  electrotype  section 
reproduces  the  engraved  copper  plates  for  printing  plates,  so  that 
worn  printing  plates  can  be  replaced  by  new  ones.  The  photograph 
section  makes  negatives  for  those  charts  published  by  photoli- 
thography, makes  photographic  copies  of  original  surveys  required 
by  other  departments  and  the  courts,  and  etches  on  copper  some 
of  the  new  charts.  The  printing  section  prints  from  copper  plates 
and  by  photolithography  over  140,000  charts  a  year. 

The  Instrument  Division  constructs  instruments  when  neces- 
sary, and  makes  repairs.  Some  of  the  instruments  made  for  the 
use  of  the  Survey  have  been  adopted  by  other  nations  for  national 
work .  One  of  the  late  achievements  is  the  construction  of  the  most 
effective  tidal  predicting  machine  in  existence.  This  machine 
takes  into  account  37  of  the  tidal  influencing  components,  and  is 


Untied  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey  35 

capable  of  producing  a  year's  record  of  predictions  of  the  daily- 
high  and  low  waters  for  a  port  in  less  than  ten  hours,  an  undertaking 
not  possible  by  direct  computation  using  100  computers. 

The  Tidal  Research  Section  of  the  Office  deals  with  all  matters 
of  research  relating  to  tides  and  currents  and  to  physical  hydrog- 
raphy. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Survey  gives  an 
account  of  activities  which  are  of  value  to  the  mariner,  the  hy- 
drographer,  the  surveyor,  the  engineer,  the  landowner,  and  the 
physicist,  and  forms  a  record  which  covers  the  practical  needs 
of  navigation  and  makes  a  national  contribution  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  dimensions  and  configuration  of  the  globe. 

A  more  extended  description  of  the  organization  and  functions 
of  the  Survey  will  be  found  in  the  pamphlet  entitled  "  The  United 
States  Qjast  and  Geodetic  Survey:  Description  of  its  Work, 
Methods,  and  Organization,"  which  those  interested  may  obtain 
on  application. 


BUREAU  OF  FISHERIES. 

The  Bureau  of  Fisheries  owed  its  inception  to  the  widely  enter- 
tained opinion  that  the  fisheries  in  general  were  diminishing  in 
value  and  importance  on  account  of  the  intensity  and  methods  with 
which  they  were  prosecuted,  a  view  which  investigation  has  shown 
to  be  justified  with  respect  to  many  fishes  and  other  valuable 
aquatic  animals.  The  American  Fish  Culturists'  Association  (now 
the  American  Fisheries  Society)  took  a  leading  part  in  advocating 
an  investigation  of  the  subject,  and  largely  through  its  influence 
and  the  representations  of  State  fishery  officers  Congress  passed  a 
joint  resolution,  approved  February  9,  187 1,  which  provided  for  the 
appointment  of  a  Commissioner  of  Fish  and  Fisheries,  who  was 
directed  to  conduct  investigations  concerning  the  facts  and  the 
causes  of  the  alleged  diminution  and  the  feasibility  of  remedial 
measures.  This  was  the  beginning  of  one  of  the  earliest  and  most 
effective  conservation  movements  tmdertaken  by  the  Federal 
Government. 

Until  July  i,  1903,  the  establishment  was  independent,  reporting 
directly  to  Congress,  and  was  known  as  the  United  States  Commis- 
sion of  Fish  and  Fisheries,  but  on  the  organization  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  it  was  included  by  law  in  the  new  Department 
and  the  name  was  changed  to  its  present  designation. 

The  original  conception  of  the  Biu-eau  was  a  body  for  scientific, 
statistical,  and  practical  investigation  of  the  fisheries,  and  that 
phase  of  its  work  always  has  been  prominent;  but  it  was  soon  found 
that  to  secure  the  practical  end  which  dictated  its  formation  it 
should  be  clothed  with  powers  to  make  its  own  findings  effective. 
This  was  in  part  accomplished  by  an  act  approved  June  10,  1872, 
which  gave  authority  for  the  propagation  of  food  fishes,  a  branch  of 
the  service  which  has  grown  imtil  at  present  it  constitutes  the 
largest  part  of  the  Bureau's  activities. 

Until  recently  the  Bureau  was  wholly  without  administrative  or 
executive  control  of  the  fisheries,  as  these  functions  are  vested  in  the 
several  States  within  whose  territorial  limits  the  fisheries  are  located. 
36 


Bureau  of  Fisherie  s  37 

There  existed,  and  in  major  part  still  exists,  the  anomalous  condi- 
tion of  an  organization  national  in  scope  but  performing  duties  of 
local  importance  which  is  without  power  to  give  direct  effect  to 
some  of  its  activities  or  to  adequately  protect  the  results  of  others. 
This  condition  has  caused  some  embarrassment  in  places,  and  has 
often  retarded  the  practical  application  of  the  results  of  investiga- 
tions and  experiments,  but  on  the  whole  the  results  are  better  than 
might  be  expected  and  in  many  cases  are  highly  satisfactory. 
Acting  in  an  advisory  capacity,  the  Bureau  has  been  able  to  exert 
a  powerful  influence  on  the  fisheries  legislation  of  the  States.  Local 
authorities  and  interests  hold  its  work  in  high  regard,  and,  appre- 
ciating that  its  advice  is  authoritative  and  disinterested,  frequently 
seek  it.  Members  of  its  staff  are  called  on  to  serve  with  and  assist 
State  commissions  and,  frequently,  to  address  State  legislative 
bodies  on  topics  connected  with  the  administration  of  the  fisheries 
and  to  assist  in  the  drafting  of  State  fisheries  laws. 

The  published  reports  on  special  investigations  not  only  contain 
facts  the  knowledge  and  understanding  of  which  lie  at  the  root  of 
rational  conservation  of  the  aquatic  resoiu-ces  of  the  States,  but 
they  often  contain  specific  recommendations  for  new  legislation 
and  practical  criticisms  of  that  in  force.  These  suggestions  are 
generally  given  consideration  by  the  States.  They  are  often 
enacted  into  law  and  sometimes  induce  complete  changes  in  the 
methods  of  administering  important  fisheries. 

By  an  order  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  dated  February  15, 
1905,  the  Bureau  for  the  first  time  became  clothed  with  the  admin- 
istration and  enforcement  of  fishery  laws  through  the  assumption 
of  supervision  of  the  salmon  fisheries  of  Alaska.  Subsequently  by 
law  this  jvirisdiction  was  extended  to  all  of  the  fisheries  of  Alaska. 
On  December  28,  1908,  the  Alaskan  fur-seal  service,  which  since 
the  formation  of  the  Department  had  been  administered  through 
the  Secretary's  Office,  was  transferred  to  the  Biu-eau;  and  in  1910, 
by  act  of  Congress  and  direction  of  the  Secretary,  supervision  was 
assumed  over  all  of  the  fiu-'bearing  animals  of  the  Territory. 

The  administration  of  the  laws  regarding  Alaska  fish  and  fur- 
bearing  animals  is  exercised  in  Federal  territory,  and  by  act  of 
Congress  in  1906  the  Department  became  charged  with  the  duty, 
which  is  also  exercised  through  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries,  of  con- 
trolling in  certain  respects  the  sponge  fishery  prosecuted  on  the 
high  seas  off  the  coast  of  Florida. 


38  Department  of  Commerce 

In  addition  to  the  general  executive  duties  performed  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Fish  and  Fisheries  and  the  Deputy  Commissioner, 
the  work  of  the  Bureau  is  organized  as  follows: 

Division  of  Administration. — This  division  of  the  service  is  under 
the  immediate  direction  of  the  assistant  in  charge  of  oflSce,  and 
exercises  supervision  of  the  accounting  office,  the  office  of  the 
architect  and  engineer,  the  vessels  of  the  Biueau,  and  the  library, 
records,  correspondence,  and  property.  In  this  division  are  pre- 
pared contracts  and  land  deeds,  also  plans  and  specifications  for 
fish-culttiral  and  biological  stations  and  their  related  structiues, 
and  for  engineering  work  in  general.  It  is  responsible  for  the 
purchase,  maintenance,  and  repair  of  all  vessels  and  boats,  and  for 
accounting  relative  to  appropriations  and  property. 

Division  of  Fish  Culture. — This  branch  of  the  service,  under  an 
assistant  in  charge,  has  direction  of  all  operations  connected  with 
the  artificial  propagation  and  distribution  of  fishes.  Its  practical 
work  in  19 14  was  conducted  through  36  fish-cultural  stations  and 
94  sub  or  field  stations,  located  in  34  States  and  the  Territory 
of  Alaska,  and  5  specially  devised  railway  cars  engaged  in  dis- 
tributing their  product.  It  is  the  endeavor  of  the  Bureau  to  hatch 
and  plant  fishes  in  sufficiently  large  numbers  to  compensate  for 
the  depletion  of  the  natural  supply  through  the  fisheries,  and  the 
volume  of  its  output  has  steadily  increased  until  in  19 14  it  aggre- 
gated 4,047,643,417  fish  and  eggs.  As  the  effects  of  fishing  are 
more  markedly  manifested  in  circumscribed  waters,  most  of  the 
hatcheries  are  located  in  the  interior,  where  they  can  more  readily 
supply  the  inland  lakes  and  streams,  but  some  also  are  located  in 
the  coastal  States  for  the  hatching  of  fishes,  such  as  shad  and  sal- 
mon, which  run  from  the  sea  into  the  rivers  for  the  purpose  of 
spawning,  and  directly  on  the  coast  for  the  propagation  of  particu- 
larly important  marine  species,  such  as  the  members  of  the  cod 
family,  flatfishes,  and  lobsters.  These  operations  have  materially 
benefited  some  fisheries  and  have  saved  others  from  extinction. 
This  division  has  also  carried  on  particularly  successful  work  in 
introducing  valuable  fishes  in  waters  to  which  they  were  not 
indigenous  and  in  rescuing  fishes  from  overflowed  lands  where  the 
recession  of  the  waters  would  leave  them  stranded  to  die.  It 
carries  on  its  work  independently  or,  in  cases  where  public  interest 
dictates,  in  cooperation  with  the  States. 


Bureau  of  Fisheries  39 

Division  of  Inquiry  Respecting  Food  Fishes. — This  division  under 
an  assistant  in  charge,  continues  the  work  for  which  the  Bureau 
originally  was  instituted,  enlarged  to  meet  the  requirements  dic- 
tated by  experience.  The  scientific  work  comprehensively  covers 
the  field  of  aquatic  biology,  as  for  a  proper  imderstanding  of  the 
requirements  for  the  protection  and  fostering  of  the  fisheries  it  is 
necessary  to  know  not  only  the  complete  life  histories  of  species  of 
direct  economic  value,  but  also  the  habits  of  the  food  and  enemies 
of  those  species  and  their  relations  to  their  physical  and  biological 
environments.  An  important  feature  of  the  work  is  furnishing 
advice  and  facts  relating  to  fisheries  legislation  and  administration. 
The  division  also  conducts  investigations  and  experiments  tending 
directly  to  the  increase  of  economic  aquatic  animals,  especially 
those  which,  like  sponges,  oysters,  mussels,  and  terrapin,  are  from 
their  habits  and  nattue  not  susceptible  to  the  ordinary  methods  of 
fish  culture,  and  in  this  way  has  added  materially  to  the  value  of 
the  fisheries. 

The  investigations  and  experiments  are  conducted  by  field  par- 
ties or  at  the  biological  stations,  of  which  there  are  two  on  the  Atlan- 
tic coast,  one  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  a  fourth  to  be  con- 
structed on  the  Guh  coast.  There  are  also  one  especially  equipped 
steamer  for  deep-sea  investigations,  one  for  coastal  work,  and  a  num- 
ber of  smaller  craft  for  inshore  and  river  duty. 

The  small  permanent  personnel,  which  is  concerned  chiefly  with 
the  work  of  more  direct  economic  application,  is  supplemented  as 
occasion  requires  by  the  employment  of  experts  and  investigators 
from  scientific  institutions.  The  facilities  of  the  laboratories  are, 
under  certain  conditions,  extended  to  qualified  independent  in- 
vestigators. 

Division  of  Statistics  and  Methods  of  the  Fisheries. — ^Under  the 
direction  of  an  assistant  in  charge,  this  division  performs  another 
of  the  original  fimctions  of  the  Bureau.  The  first  duty  to  which 
the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  was  assigned,  namely,  the  investigation  of 
the  reported  decrease  of  food  fishes  in  New  England,  necessarily 
involved  the  collection  of  statistics  of  production,  personnel,  and 
capital.  Since  that  time  this  branch  of  the  work  has  been  con- 
ducted without  interruption,  and  in  it  have  naturally  been  in- 
cluded the  various  other  subjects  affecting  the  economic  and  com- 
mercial aspects  of  the  fisheries.     Among  its  functions  are  ( i)  a  gen- 


40  Department  of  Commerce 

eral  survey  of  the  commercial  fisheries  of  the  coimtry;  (2)  a 
study  of  the  fishery  grounds  with  reference  to  their  extent,  re- 
sources, yield,  and  condition;  (3)  a  study  of  the  vessels  and  boats 
employed  in  the  fisheries,  with  special  reference  to  their  improve- 
ment; (4)  a  determination  of  the  utility  and  effect  of  the  apparatus 
of  capture  employed  in  each  fishery;  (5)  a  study  of  the  methods  of 
fishing,  for  the  special  purpose  of  suggesting  improvements  or  of 
discovering  the  use  of  unprofitable  or  unnecessarily  destructive 
methods;  (6)  an  inquiry  into  the  methods  of  utilizing  fishery  prod- 
ucts, the  means  and  methods  of  transportation,  and  the  extent  and 
condition  of  the  wholesale  trade;  (7)  a  census  of  the  fishing  popu- 
lation, their  economic  and  hygienic  condition,  nativity,  and  citi- 
zenship; (8)  a  study  of  international  questions  affecting  the  fish- 
eries; (9)  the  prosecution  of  inquiries  regarding  the  fishing  apparatus 
and  methods  of  foreign  countries. 

Alaska  Fisheries  Service. — This  service  is  in  immediate  charge  of 
the  Deputy  Commissioner  of  Fisheries,  and  consists  of  three  impor- 
tant subdivisions,  namely,  the  fur-seal  service,  the  salmon  service, 
and  the  fur-bearing  animal  service. 

The  fur-seal  service  has  to  do  with  all  matters  pertaining  to  the 
fur  seals  of  Alaska  and  to  the  control  of  the  Pribilof  Islands.  The 
islands  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  George  were  set  aside  as  a  special  reserva- 
tion in  1869,  and  the  entire  group  in  1910,  and  have  since  been  con- 
tinuotKly  under  Government  supervision.  As  these  islands  are 
the  only  land  to  which  the  Alaskan  fiu-  seals  resort,  the  administra- 
tion of  the  fur-seal  service  is  concerned  primarily  with  the  care  and 
utilization  of  the  seals,  and,  secondarily,  with  the  maintenance  and 
education  of  the  native  inhabitants  of  the  islands,  the  care  and 
utilization  of  the  fox  herds,  and  the  protection  of  other  animals 
foimd  on  the  islands. 

The  sealing  privileges  of  the  Pribilof  Islands  were  for  40  years 
leased  to  private  companies,  which  paid  to  the  Government  a  per 
capita  tax  on  each  seal  killed;  but  since  April,  1910,  the  Govern- 
ment has  had  in  its  own  charge  the  business  of  taking  and  market- 
ing sealskins.  The  killing  of  seals  is  limited  to  such  males  as  are 
required  for  food  for  the  natives. 

The  representatives  of  the  Btireau  on  the  seal  islands  include 
agents  and  caretakers,  physicians,  school-teachers,  and  a  store- 
keeper.   The  agents  are  charged  with  local  matters  of  administra- 


Bureau  of  Fisheries  41 

tion  pertaining  to  the  seals,  the  foxes,  tlie  natives,  and  other 
interests. 

Enforcement  of  the  laws  and  regulations  affecting  all  other  fur- 
bearing  animals  of  Alaska  was  imposed  on  the  Bureau  by  act  of 
Congress  of  April  2 1 ,  19 10.  This  branch  of  the  service  has  at  present 
seven  wardens  and  one  special  warden,  whose  duties  are  to  see 
that  the  laws  enacted  by  Congress  and  the  regulations  thereunder 
for  the  protection  of  the  fur-bearing  animals  are  observed;  to 
make  observations  and  investigations  regarding  the  abundance, 
distribution,  and  habits  of  the  fur  animals,  their  food,  diseases, 
and  the  condition  of  the  fur  in  different  localities  at  different 
seasons;  and  to  inspect,  so  far  as  is  possible,  the  furs  offered  for 
shipment  from  Alaska,  and  to  enforce  tlie  regulations  concerning 
shipments. 

The  salmon  service,  represented  in  Alaska  by  an  agent,  assistant 
agents,  and  an  inspector,  is  charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the 
laws  and  regulations  relating  to  the  salmon  and  other  fisheries  of 
Alaska,  and  with  the  inspection  of  fisheries,  canneries,  salteries, 
hatcheries,  and  other  similar  establishments.  Other  duties  of  this 
branch  are  to  make  such  investigations  and  experiments  as  may  be 
desirable  or  necessary  for  the  improvement  and  conservation  of  the 
salmon  and  other  fisheries. 

Publications. — The  publications  of  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  con- 
sist of  foiu-  series,  as  follows:  (i)  The  annual  report  of  the  Commis- 
sioner and  various  special  reports  on  different  branches  of  the 
work;  (2)  the  annual  bulletin,  which  is  made  up  of  papers  on  mis- 
cellaneous subjects,  frequently  of  a  technical  nature;  (3)  eco- 
nomic circulars,  consisting  of  brief  advance  reports  upon  economic 
subjects  to  be  more  elaborately  treated  in  subsequent  papers,  or 
containing  information  of  interest  to  special  localities  or  industries; 
(4)  statistical  bulletins  giving,  in  tabular  form,  monthly  and  annual 
statements  of  the  quantity  and  value  of  fish  and  aquatic  products 
landed  at  the  principal  fishing  centers. 

The  publications  under  the  control  of  the  Bureau  are  all  dis- 
tributed in  pamphlet  form  as  separate  papers.  The  bound  bulle- 
tins are  congressional  documents,  and  are  distributed  from  the 
folding  rooms  of  Congress. 


BUREAU  OF  FOREIGN  AlH)  DOMESTIC  COMMERCE. 

HISTORY. 

The  Biireau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Gimmerce  was  created  by 
the  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  appropriation  act  approved 
August  23,  1912,  which  consolidated  under  that  name  the  Btu"eau  of 
Manufactures  and  the  Bureau  of  Statistics.  This  action  by  Con- 
gress was  predicated  on  a  suggestion  emanating  from  the  Depart- 
ment, which  in  September,  1907,  appointed  a  committee  to  inquire 
into  its  statistical  work,  and  this  committee  after  a  very  extensive 
inquiry  recommended  "that  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures  and  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  be  consolidated  into  one  bureau;  and  that  the 
bureau  thus  formed  be  called  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce." 

Bureau  of  Manufactures. — The  Bureau  of  Manufactures  was  au- 
thorized by  section  5  of  the  act  of  February  14,  1903  (the  organic 
act  of  the  Department),  in  response  to  a  demand  which  had  long 
since  grown  persistent  for  a  Government  office  to  be  especially 
charged  with  the  duty  of  fostering,  promoting,  and  developing 
the  manufacturing  industries  of  the  United  States.  The  Bureau 
was  organized  in  1904  and  at  once  commenced  to  build  up  in  great 
part  the  service  described  on  succeeding  pages. 

Bureau  of  Statistics. — The  Bureau  of  Statistics,  before  being 
merged  into  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce,  had 
had  almost  a  centiuy  of  development. 

The  value  of  the  systematic  and  careful  collection  of  infor- 
mation concerning  the  status  of  our  commerce  was  recognized 
early  in  our  history;  and,  in  response  to  resolutions  of  Congress,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  made  frequent  reports  on  the  subject, 
which  were  subsequently  collected  and  published  in  two  volumes 
of  the  American  State  Papers. 

By  act  of  Congress  approved  February  10,  1820,  the  regular  col- 
lection and  publication  of  statistics  of  otu-  foreign  commerce  was 
undertaken.  This  information  was  gathered  through  the  collect- 
ors of  customs,  and  there  was  organized  in  the  Treasury  Depart- 


Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce         43 

ment  a  division  of  commerce  and  navigation,  which  collated  and 
published  the  information  thus  obtained.  Joint  resolution  of  Con- 
gress of  June  15,  1844,  authorized  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
direct  the  collecting,  arranging,  and  classifying  of  statistical  infor- 
mation showing  each  year  the  condition  of  agriculture  and  domes- 
tic trade,  and  to  report  on  these  subjects  annually. 

By  act  approved  July  28,  1866,  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  with  a 
Director,  was  established  in  the  Treasury  Department.  The  former 
division  of  commerce  and  navigation  was  consolidated  with  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics,  and  a  broad  range  of  subjects  upon  which  to 
compile  statistics  was  prescribed.  The  act  of  July  20,  1868,  abol- 
ished the  office  of  Director,  provided  that  the  Special  Commissioner 
of  the  Revenue  should  superintend  the  Bureau,  and  provided  for 
a  Deputy  Special  Commissioner  to  have  charge  of  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics.  The  office  of  Special  Commissioner  of  the  Revenue 
expired  July  i,  1870,  and  the  title  of  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Statistics 
was  given  to  the  officer  in  charge  and  afterwards  authorized  by  law. 

The  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  was  enlarged  by  act  of  March 
3,  1875,  and  statistics  relating  to  the  internal  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try were  published  from  that  year  until  1912  under  special  appro- 
priations. 

The  old  law  of  1820  omitted  statistics  relating  to  exports  other 
than  that  borne  in  vessels,  but  the  act  of  March  3,  1893,  amending 
section  i  of  the  act  of  July  16,  1892,  remedied  this  by  providing  for 
statistics  of  exports  of  commodities  by  railways  and  land  carriages. 
By  act  approved  April  29,  1902,  the  work  of  the  Bureau  was  ex- 
tended to  include  statistics  of  commerce  with  Alaska,  Porto  Rico, 
Hawaii,  Philippine  Islands,  Guam,  and  other  noncontiguous  terri- 
tory. 

Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  in  the  State  Department. — By  the  act 
of  February  14,  1903  (the  organic  act  of  the  Department),  the  Bu- 
reau of  Statistics  was  transferred  from  the  Treasury  Department 
to  the  new  Department,  from  and  after  July  i,  1903.  The  same  act 
provided  also  for  the  transfer  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce 
from  the  State  Department  and  for  its  consolidation  with  the  Bu- 
reau of  Statistics,  the  two  to  constitute  one  biu-eau  to  be  called  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics.  By  authority  of  section  11  of  the  act  the 
Biu-eau  of  Trade  Relations  was  organized  in  the  State  Department 
for  the  formulation  and  transmission  of  correspondence  between 
the  new  Department  and  consular  officers. 


44  Department  of  Commerce 

The  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  was,  until  July  i,  1897,  the 
Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Department  of  State.  Owing  to  the  con- 
fusion arising  from  the  fact  that  there  was  also  a  Bureau  of  Statistics 
in  the  Treasury  Department  and  a  Division  of  Statistics  in  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  Congress  authorized  the  change  of  the 
name  to  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  on  July  i,  1897,  this  name 
more  clearly  indicating  the  functions  of  the  Bureau. 

The  Bureau  had  its  origin  in  an  act  of  Congress  approved  August 
16,  1842,  which  made  it  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  State  "to  lay 
before  Congress,  annually,  at  the  commencement  of  its  session,  in 
a  compendious  form,  all  such  changes  and  modifications  in  the  com- 
mercial systems  of  other  nations,  whether  by  treaties,  duties  on  im- 
ports and  exports,  or  other  regulations,  as  shall  have  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  Department . "  In  a  communication  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Senate,  February  4,  1857  (Ex.  Doc.  No.  35,  34th  Cong., 
3d  sess.).  Secretary  of  State  Marcy  called  attention  to  a  previous 
statement  (in  1855)  in  which  he  said  that  "but  three  attempts  had 
been  made  to  comply  with  the  requisitions  of  the  act  of  1842;  the 
first  by  Mr.  Secretary  Webster  in  1842,  the  second  by  Mr.  Secretary 
Upshur  in  1843,  ^i^d  the  third,  and  last,  by  Mr.  Secretary  Calhoun 
in  1844."  Mr.  Webster,  in  1842,  recommended  to  Congress  that 
the  work  "be  intrusted  to  one  person,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Department,  who  should  arrange  and  condense  information  on  com- 
mercial subjects  from  time  to  time,  as  it  should  be  received,  and 
should  have  charge  of  the  correspondence  on  these  subjects  with 
agents  of  the  Government  abroad. " 

No  action  was  taken  by  Congress  until  14  years  later.  By  an  act 
approved  August  18, 1856  (11  Stat.,  62),  the  act  of  1842  was  amended 
so  as  to  make  it  obligatory  upon  the  Secretary  of  State,  in  addition 
to  changes  and  modifications  in  the  commercial  systems  of  other 
nations,  to  include  in  his  annual  report  to  Congress  "all  other  com- 
mercial information  commimicated  to  the  State  Department  by 
consular  and  diplomatic  agents  of  this  Government  abroad,  or  con- 
tained in  the  official  publications  of  other  Governments,  which  he 
shall  deem  sufficiently  important. "  It  was  further  declared  to  be 
the  duty  of  consuls  and  commercial  agents  to  procure  such  informa- 
tion in  such  manner  and  at  such  times  as  the  Department  of  State 
might  prescribe,  and  the  Secretary  of  State  was  "authorized  and 
required  to  appoint  one  clerk  who  shall  have  charge  of  statistics 
in  said  department  and  shall  be  called  'Superintendent  of  Sta- 
tistics.'" 


Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce         45 


"Thus,"  says  Secretary  Marcy,  in  his  letter  of  February  4,  1857, 
"the  'Statistical  Office  of  the  Department  of  State,'  which  had 
been  organized  two  years  before  for  the  preparation  of  a  general 
Report  on  the  Commercial  Relations  of  the  United  States  with 
Foreign  Nations,  in  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, was,  by  that  law,  placed  on  a  permanent  basis. ' ' 

The  "Bureau  of  Statistics"  was  substituted  for  the  "Statistical 
Office  "  July  I,  i874,imder  authority  conferred  by  the  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  appropriation  act  of  June  20,  1874,  in  an 
item  providing  a  salary  of  $2,400  each  for  six  chiefs  of  bureau, 
including  one  of  Statistics. 

Until  October  i,  1880,  the  duties  of  the  Bureau  were  restricted  to 
the  preparation  of  annual  and  occasional  reports  from  consular  offi- 
cers, but  on  that  date  the  publication  of  the  monthly  Consular 
Reports  was  begtm,  in  pursuance  of  a  recommendation  of  Secretary 
of  State  Evarts,  in  response  to  which  Congress,  at  the  previous 
session,  had  made  provision  "for  printing  and  distributing  more 
frequently  the  publications  by  the  Department  of  State  of  the  con- 
sular and  otiier  reports. ' '  The  daily  publication  of  consular  reports 
was  begim  January  i,  1898,  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
December  7,  1897.  From  July  i,  1905,  the  publication  was  known 
as  "  Daily  Consular  and  Trade  Reports, "  but  since  January  i,  1915, 
it  has  borne  the  name  "  Commerce  Reports. " 

WORK  OP  THE  BUREAU. 

Broadly,  the  function  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce  is  to  promote  commerce  and  manufacturing  by  collecting 
and  distributing  information  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  commercial 
interests.  In  carrying  out  this  function  advantage  is  taken  of  the 
relations  of  the  Biu-eau  with  many  other  branches  of  the  Federal 
service. 

Consular  reports. — Use  is  made  especially  of  the  Consular  Service, 
through  the  Department  of  State,  to  obtain  reports  on  the  current 
development  of  the  trade  of  foreign  countries  and  opportunities 
for  the  sale  abroad  of  articles  produced  in  the  United  States.  This 
material  is  edited  in  the  Bureau  and  distributed  to  the  commercial 
public  by  means  of  the  daily  Commerce  Reports  and  supplements 
thereto,  and  also  by  means  of  special  bulletins  and  pamphlets 
and  confidential  circulars  or  letters. 


46  Department  of  Commerce 

Comm^cial  attaches. — ^The  Bureau's  facilities  for  studying  foreign 
markets  for  American  goods  have  beeo  greatly  increased  recently 
by  the  appointment  of  commercial  attaches  to  represent  the  De- 
partment of  Commerce  in  the  more  important  commercial  countries. 
These  attaches  are  accredited  to  the  embassies  and  legations  of  the 
United  States  in  the  capitals  of  the  countries  to  which  they  are 
assigned.  They  will  devote  all  their  time  to  the  study  of  commer- 
cial problems  and  will  report  the  results  of  their  investigations  to 
the  Bureau  for  publication  in  Commerce  Reports  or  in  monograph 
form.  These  reports,  in  general,  will  be  supplemental  to  those 
now  sent  in  by  the  consuls  and  commercial  agents.  Commercial 
attaches  are  now  stationed  at  London,  England;  Paris,  France; 
Petrograd,  Russia;  Berlin,  Germany;  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina; 
Rio de  Janeiro,  Brazil;  Santiago,  Chile;  Lima,  Peru;  Peking,  China; 
and  Melbourne,  Australia. 

Commercial  agents. — Further,  the  Bureau  is  equipped  with  a 
corps  of  field  agents,  called  commercial  agents,  who  supplement 
the  work  of  consular  officers  through  special  investigations  for  which 
they  are  fitted  by  training  or  experience  in  various  branches  of 
commerce.  These  special  investigations  cover  a  wide  range  of 
subjects,  such  as  the  trade  in  cotton  textiles,  cottonseed  products, 
machinery,  lumber,  boots  and  shoes  and  other  leather  goods,  chem- 
ical products,  and  other  articles  of  domestic  manufacture  or  export. 
A  special  force  of  commercial  agents  has  been  assigned  to  Latin 
America,  and  the  work  of  these  investigators  is  supervised  by  a 
special  staff  at  the  Bureau  in  Washington — the  Latin  American 
Division. 

Foreign  tqriffs. — ^To  supplement  this  volume  of  commercial  infor- 
mation there  are  distributed  accurate  statements  concerning  the 
customs  tariffs  of  foreign  countries,  a  work  which  is  carried  on  cur- 
rently by  the  Division  of  Foreign  Tariffs.  Not  only  are  transla- 
tions of  these  tariffs  made  and  published  at  frequent  intervals,  but 
through  consular  reports  and  from  other  official  sources  there  is 
maintained  a  record  of  the  existing  regulations  with  respect  to 
customs  charges  in  all  foreign  countries. 

The  publications  of  the  Bureau  issued  in  the  tariff  series  usually 
present  either  a  complete  tariff  of  a  particular  country  or  the  rates 
on  a  particular  group  of  articles  as  applied  in  various  countries. 
Recent  publications  of  the  latter  nature  are  Tariff  Series  Nos.  29 
and  30,  which  set  forth  the  duties  on  oflfice  appliances  and  on  motor 
vehicles  and  accessories,  respectively,  in  all  foreign  countries. 


Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce         47 

As  far  as  possible  these  published  editions  of  foreign  tariffs  are 
revised  to  date,  and,  in  addition,  changes  in  foreign  tariffs  are 
noted  in  Commerce  Reports  and  are  reprinted  in  special  pamphlets 
entitled  "Foreign  Tariff  Notes."  The  Bureau,  by  virtue  of  its 
close  relations  with  American  consular  officers,  and  its  files  of  the 
current  official  publications  of  foreign  countries,  possesses  excep- 
tional facilities  for  keeping  informed  as  to  tariff  rates  and  customs 
formalities  incident  to  the  entry  of  goods  into  foreign  countries. 

The  tariff  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce 
is  not  rigidly  restricted  to  customs  duties  and  customs  regulations. 
The  Division  of  Foreign  Tariffs  of  the  Bureau  gives  attention  also 
to  closely  allied  subjects  affecting  our  foreign  commerce,  such  as 
the  internal-revenue  laws  of  foreign  countries,  the  regulations  for 
commercial  travelers  soliciting  business  abroad,  and  the  require- 
ments of  foreign  countries  for  consular  invoices,  merchandise 
marks,  standards  of  purity,  and  the  like.  The  United  States 
diplomatic  and  consular  officers  report  on  these  subjects,  and 
translators  and  other  assistants  in  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domes- 
tic Commerce  examine  carefully  the  oflBcial  publications  of  the 
foreign  Governments  in  order  that  all  information  regarding  foreign 
tariffs  and  these  allied  subjects  may  be  kept  up  to  date. 

Commercial  statistics. — Statistical  information  in  regard  to  imports 
and  exports  is  received  by  the  Bureau  in  monthly  and  quarterly 
retiuns  from  the  collectors  of  customs,  showing  the  principal  articles 
imported  and  exported,  stating  quantities  where  possible  and 
values  in  all  cases;  the  countries  from  which  each  article  or  group 
of  articles  was  imported  and  to  which  each  article  or  group  of  articles 
was  exported.  These  statements  are  printed  primarily  in  the 
Monthly  Summary  of  Foreign  Commerce  and  distributed  to  indi- 
viduals and  firms  engaged  in  commerce,  to  commercial  organiza- 
tions, educational  institutions,  and  libraries,  and  to  such  com- 
mercial and  other  newspapers  of  the  country  as  may  request  the 
same. 

The  Monthly  Summary  also  contains  tables  showing  the  prin- 
cipal articles  forming  the  trade  between  the  United  States  and  its 
noncontiguous  territories — ^Alaska,  Porto  Rico,  Hawaii,  the  Philip- 
pine Islands,  Guam,  and  Tutuila. 

Other  tables  of  imports,  much  more  complete  in  detail,  are  pub- 
lished quarterly,  showing  the  quantity  and  value  of  the  imports 
entered  for  consumption,  the  rate  of  duty,  and  the  duty  collected 
on  each  article  or  group  of  articles;  and  these  quarterly  statements 


48  Department  of  Commerce 

are  subsequently  presented  in  the  form  of  an  annual  statement. 
This  statement  of  merchandise  imported  for  consumption  includes: 
(i)  The  merchandise  entered  for  immediate  consumption  and  duty 
paid  upon  its  arrival  at  the  port,  and  (2)  merchandise  withdrawn 
from  warehouse  for  consumption  on  payment  of  duty.  Merchan- 
dise entering  the  country  and  deposited  in  warehouse  is  not  in- 
cluded in  the  statement  of  imports  for  consumption  unless  subse- 
quently withdrawn  from  warehouse. 

Annual  statements  of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  present- 
ing trade  movements  in  much  greater  detail  than  those  of  the 
Monthly  Summary  of  Foreign  Commerce  are  published  in  a  volume 
entitled  "Commerce  and  Navigation  of  the  United  States."  This 
volume  shows  in  great  detail  the  trade  by  articles  and  countries, 
stating  the  countries  from  which  each  article  or  class  of  articles  was 
imported  and  to  which  each  article  or  class  of  articles  was  exported 
during  a  five-year  period ;  also  statements  showing  the  movements 
of  merchandise  and  of  gold  and  silver  by  customs  districts,  the 
imports  for  consumption,  and  other  statements  showing  details  of 
the  trade  movements  with  foreign  countries. 

The  Statistical  Abstract  of  the  United  States,  a  volume  of  about 
700  pages,  presents  in  condensed  form  statements  regarding  the 
commerce,  production,  industries,  population,  finance,  currency, 
indebtedness,  and  wealth  of  the  country,  and  includes  in  addition 
to  the  compilations  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic 
Commerce  the  more  important  statistical  data  compiled  by  other 
branches  of  the  Government,  and  with  this  a  condensed  statement 
of  the  commerce  of  the  principal  foreign  countries.  It  is  published 
annually. 

Specific  opportunities  to  extend  trade. — Specific  opportunities  for 
the  extension  of  American  trade,  transmitted  by  consuls,  are  pub- 
lished in  Commerce  Reports  tmder  the  title  "  Foreign  trade  oppor- 
tunities. ' '  Notes  relative  to  opportunities  for  the  sale  of  American 
manufactures  to  the  Federal  Qovemment  are  also  published  under 
the  heading  "  Proposals  for  Government  supplies. " 

Plans  and  specifications  for  public  and  private  works  in  foreign 
countries,  as  well  as  samples  of  articles  for  which  a  demand  has 
been  or  may  be  created,  often  accompany  reports  by  consular 
officers,  commercial  attach6s,  and  commercial  agents.  Annoimce- 
ment  of  the  receipt  of  these  is  made  in  Commerce  Reports,  and 
circulation  of  them  is  made  by  the  Btureau,  an  endeavor  being 


Bureau  of  Foreign  and  Domestic  Commerce         49 

made  to  reach  as  soon  as  possible  the  manufacturers  likely  to  be 
interested. 

The  Bureau  cooperates  with  representative  trade  organizations 
by  conferences  with  their  officers,  by  the  use  of  membership  lists 
for  the  distribution  of  confidential  information,  and  by  filing  with 
them  plans  and  specifications  for  work  relating  to  the  industry  or 
industries  represented  by  such  organizations.  Numerous  indi- 
vidual requests  for  information  from  American  manufacturers  and 
exporters  receive  attention  and  endeavor  is  made  to  supply  promptly 
all  material  in  possession  of  the  Bureau  on  a  particular  subject. 

All  of  the  trade  information  received  is  carefully  indexed,  and 
the  Bureau  has  a  record  of  reports  on  most  lines  of  trade  in  foreign 
countries,  and  when  requests  for  data  on  any  particular  line  are 
received  search  is  made  through  these  records  and  all  informa- 
tion available  is  furnished.  If  a  subject  regarding  which  informa- 
tion is  sought  is  one  of  importance  and  interest  to  a  number  of  con- 
cerns, such  concerns  are  invited  to  submit  a  list  of  questions  cover- 
ing the  facts  desired,  and  these  inquiries  are  sent  to  American  con- 
suls throughout  the  world.  The  results  of  these  inquiries  are  subse- 
quently published  and  distributed  by  the  Biu-eau. 

The  bulletins  and  monographs  of  the  Bureau  on  special  statistical 
and  commercial  subjects  now  number  several  hundred,  and  cover 
a  wide  range  of  trade  matters. 

Trade  directories. — ^The  trade-directory  work  is  an  important 
branch  of  the  Bureau 's  service  to  American  exporters.  In  191 1  there 
was  issued  a  "  World  Trade  Directory, ' '  giving  the  namesof  importers 
in  all  countries  of  the  world.  This  volume  is  now  out  of  print,  but 
may  be  consulted  at  the  branch  offices,  which  also  have  the  revised 
lists  that  are  constantly  being  received  from  consular  officers.  In 
19 14  the  Bureau  issued  a  revision  of  the  South  American  section  of 
the  directory  (428  pages),  and  the  revision  of  the  sections  devoted 
to  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  is  under  way. 

Branch  offices. — The  distribution  work  of  the  Bureau  has  been 
greatly  facilitated  by  the  establishment  of  branch  offices  in  New 
York,  409  United  States  Customhouse;  Boston,  752  Oliver  Build- 
ing; Chicago,  629  Federal  Building;  St.  Louis,  402  Third  National 
Bank  Building;  Atlanta,  521  Post  Office  Building;  New  Orleans, 
1020  Hibernia  Bank  Building;  San  Francisco,  310  United  States 
Customhouse ;  and  Seattle,  922  Alaska  Building.  To  these  offices  are 
sent  the  various  publications  of  the  Btu-eau,  the  reserved  information 


5©  Department  of  Commerce 

in  connection  with  foreign  trade  opportunities,  lists  of  foreign 
importers  and  dealers,  copies  of  confidential  circulars,  manuscript 
consular  reports,  documents  and  exhibits  accompanying  reports, 
trade  directories,  and  many  other  volumes  relating  to  manufacture 
and  commerce.  Commercial  organizations  and  individual  firms  in 
the  respective  districts  served  by  these  offices  are  kept  informed 
of  the  material  and  information  available. 

Domestic  trade  development. — Although  the  law  provides  for  the 
promotion  and  development  of  trade  at  home  and  abroad,  work  has 
thus  far,  in  large  measure,  been  devoted  to  recording  and  extending 
the  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States.  The  work  of  domestic  com- 
mercial development  is  now  being  taken  up  actively,  and  is  des- 
tined to  become  an  extremely  important  branch  of  the  service  of 
the  office. 

The  yearly  exports  of  manufactures  to  foreign  coimtries  are  now 
about  5  per  cent  of  the  total  of  25,000  million  dollars'  worth  pro- 
duced in  the  United  States  annually.  The  factors  of  commercial 
promotion  and  development  related  to  the  domestic  production, 
distribution,  and  consumption  of  manufactures  which  are  of 
legitimate  interest  to  the  Biu-eau  are  very  numerous  and  worthy  of 
extensive  investigation  and  publicity. 

The  Bureau  has  already  entered  this  field  with  its  commercial 
agents  and  will  extend  its  researches  and  add  to  its  publications  as 
rapidly  as  practicable.  Commercial  and  manufacturers'  organiza- 
tions have  been  studied,  and  a  report  has  been  published  dealing 
with  the  promotive  activities  of  70  representative  organizations. 
Commercial  museums  and  expositions,  commercial  education, 
methods  of  distribution  of  manufactured  products,  standards  of 
credit,  quality  and  sources  of  raw  materials,  and  similar  subjects 
await  study  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Bureau,  as  outlined  in  the 
law. 

Cost  of  production  investigations. — ^The  Bureau  is  charged  with 
the  duty  of  making  investigations,  at  home  and  abroad ,  of  the  cost  of 
production  of  articles  at  the  time  dutiable  in  the  United  States,  the 
profits  of  manufacturers,  the  wages  and  hours  of  labor  in  establish- 
ments producing  such  articles,  and  the  comparative  cost  of  living 
and  kind  of  living.  These  investigations  are  undertaken  whenever 
required  by  the  President  or  by  either  House  of  Congress  and  when 
industrial  changes  make  it  essential. 


BUREAU  OF  LIGHTHOUSES. 

The  first  lighthouse  on  this  continent  was  built  in  1715-16,  at 
the  entrance  to  Boston  Harbor,  by  the  Province  of  Massachusetts, 
and  was  supported  by  light  dues  on  all  incoming  and  outgoing 
vessels,  except  coasters.  Several  other  lighthouses  were  built  by 
the  colonies.  Congress  by  the  act  of  August  7,  1789,  authorized 
the  maintenance  of  lighthouses  and  other  aids  to  navigation  at 
the  expense  of  the  United  States.  There  were  at  that  date  eight 
lights  in  operation,  maintained  by  the  colonies.  These,  together 
with  others  completed  later,  thirteen  in  all,  were  ceded  to  the 
General  Government  by  the  States. 

The  maintenance  of  lighthouses,  buoys,  etc.,  was  placed  under 
the  Treasiuy  Department,  and  up  to  1820  was  directed  personally 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  except  for  two  intervals,  when 
supervision  was  assigned  by  him  to  the  Commissioner  of  Revenue. 
In  1820  the  superintendence  of  the  lights  devolved  upon  the  Fifth 
Auditor  of  the  Treasury,  who  was  popularly  known  as  the  General 
Superintendent  of  Lights,  and  who  continued  in  charge  thereof 
until  1852,  when  the  United  States  Lighthouse  Board,  consisting 
of  officers  of  the  Navy  and  Army,  and  civilians,  was  organized, 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as  ex  officio  president  of  the 
Board.  The  Board  selected  from  its  own  niunber  a  member  to 
act  as  chairman. 

The  Lighthouse  Service  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of 
Commerce  on  July  i,  1903.  On  July  i,  1910,  the  Lighthouse 
Board  was  terminated,  and  the  present  Bureau  of  Lighthouses 
established.  In  this  Bureau  foiu-  officers  are  appointed  by  the 
President — a  Commissioner  of  Lighthouses,  a  Deputy  Commis- 
sioner, a  Chief  Constructing  Engineer,  and  a  Superintendent  of 
Naval  Construction. 

The  United  States  Lighthouse  Service  is  charged  with  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  aids  to  navigation,  and  with  all 
equipment  and  work  incident  thereto,  on  the  sea  and  lake  coasts 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  rivers  of  the  United  States,  and  on 
the  coasts  of  all  other  territory  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  exception  of  the  Philippine  Islands  and  Panama. 


52  Department  of  Commerce 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Lighthouse  Service  over  rivers  not  included 
in  tidewater  navigation  is  restricted  to  such  as  are  specifically 
authorized  by  law;  these  now  include  practically  all  the  important 
navigable  rivers  and  lakes  of  the  country. 

All  the  work  of  establishing  and  maintaining  the  aids  to  navi- 
gation under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Lighthouse  Service  is  per- 
formed directly  by  that  Service  through  the  district  organizations, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  minor  aids  which  are  maintained  by 
contract,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  island  of  Guam,  the  Amer- 
ican Samoan  Islands,  and  Guantanamo  Bay,  Cuba,  where  the  aids 
are  maintained  through  the  local  authorities.  The  Lighthouse 
Service  also  has  supervision  over  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  private  aids  to  navigation  and  the  lighting  of  bridges 
over  navigable  waters  of  the  United  States. 

There  is  an  office  in  Washington,  which  is  the  executive  center 
of  the  Service,  under  the  Commissioner  of  Lighthouses  and  the 
Deputy  Commissioner.  There  are  in  this  office  an  engineering 
construction  division,  under  the  Chief  Constructing  Engineer;  a 
naval  construction  division,  under  the  Superintendent  of  Naval 
Construction;  a  hydrographic  division,  under  an  assistant  engineer, 
and  the  general  oflRce  force,  under  the  chief  clerk. 

The  Service  outside  of  Washington  is  divided  into  nineteen  light- 
house districts,  each  of  which  is  under  the  charge  of  a  lighthouse 
inspector.  In  each  district  there  is  a  central  office  at  a  location 
selected  on  account  of  either  its  maritime  importance  or  its  geo- 
graphical position,  and  there  are  also  one  or  more  lighthouse  depots 
located  conveniently  for  carrying  on  the  work  of  the  district,  in  the 
matter  of  storing  and  distributing  supplies  and  apparatus.  Each 
district  is  provided  with  one  or  more  lighthouse  tenders  for  the 
purpose  of  distributing  supplies  to  the  various  stations  and  light 
vessels  and  for  transportation  of  materials  for  construction  or  repair, 
for  the  placing  and  care  of  the  buoyage  system  in  the  district,  and 
for  transporting  the  inspector  and  other  officers  of  the  Service  on 
official  inspections  of  stations  and  vessels  and  on  other  official  duty. 

In  addition  to  the  various  district  depots,  there  is  in  the  Third 
lighthouse  district,  on  Staten  Island,  New  York  Harbor,  a  general 
lighthouse  depot,  where  many  of  the  supplies  for  the  whole  Service 
are  purchased  and  stored  and  sent  out  for  distribution,  and  where 
much  of  the  special  apparatus  of  the  Service  is  manufacttired  or 
repaired,  and  where  also  there  is  carried  on  various  technical  work 


Bureau  of  Lighthouses  53 

in  the  way  of  testing  apparatus  and  supplies  and  designing  or 
improving  apparatus. 

On  June  30,  1914,  there  were  45  regular  lighthouse  tenders  in 
commission,  and  the  Service  maintained  light  vessels  at  52  stations; 
having  for  this  piupose  66  light  vessels,  of  which  14  were  relief 
vessels,  making  a  total  of  1 1 1  vessels.  The  number  of  employees 
was  5,562,  and  the  number  and  classes  of  aids  to  navigation  main- 
tained by  the  Service  were  as  follows: 

Lighted  aids: 

Lights  (other  than  minor  lights) i,  590 

Minor  lights 2,  791 

Light-vessel  stations 52 

Gas  buoys 453 

Float  lights 118 

Total 5, 004 

Unlighted  aids: 

Fog  signals. 519 

.  Submarine  signals 48 

Whistling  buoys,  unlighted 86 

Bell  buoys,  unlighted 233 

Other  buoys 6, 330 

Day  beacons i,  978 

Total 9, 194 

Grand  total 14, 198 

The  number  of  private  aids  to  navigation  maintained  was  658. 
The  appropriations  made  by  Congress  for  the  general  mainte- 
nance of  the  Lighthouse  Service  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1915,  amount  to  $5,151,630;  the  appropriations  made  for  special 
works  are  $136,000.  The  average  appropriations  for  special  works 
for  the  ten  preceding  years,  1905  to  1914,  inclusive,  amotmted  to 
$946,927  per  year.  The  special  works  include  new  lighthouses, 
fog  signals,  tenders,  light  vessels,  and  depots,  and  extensive 
improvements  or  rebuilding  of  these. 

A  report  of  the  operations  of  the  Lighthouse  Service  is  submitted 
annually  by  the  Commissioner  of  Lighthouses  to  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  transmitted  to  Congress.  The  Service  also  pub- 
lishes Weekly  Notices  to  Mariners  (jointly  with  the  Coast  and 
Geodetic  Survey),  Light  Lists  for  the  various  coasts,  and  Buoy 
Lists  for  each  lighthouse  district.  These  publications  are  dis- 
tributed free. 


BUREAU  OF  NAVIGATION. 

The  recxjgnized  need  of  uniform  regulation  of  navigation  and 
shipping  was  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  formation  of  a  more  perfect 
union  of  the  States,  and  the  third  act  of  the  First  Congress,  passed 
July  20, 1789,  provided  for  imposing  dutieson  the  tonnage  of  vessels. 
This  was  followed  on  September  i,  1789,  by  the  act  for  the  register- 
ing and  clearing  of  vessels  and  regulating  the  coasting  trade,  which 
is  still  the  foundation  of  the  navigation  laws  and  policy  of  the 
United  States.  Succeeding  Congresses  have  built  on  this  founda- 
tion a  system  of  laws  designed  to  meet  the  growth  and  variety  of 
conditions  of  our  water-borne  commerce,  with  increasing  regard  in 
the  cotuse  of  years  to  the  safety  of  life. 

The  field  force  for  the  administration  of  these  laws  from  the 
begiiming  of  our  Government  has  consisted  of  collectors  and  sur- 
veyors of  customs,  with  their  deputies  and  inspectors,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treastuy,  acting  at  Washington 
originally  through  the  Register  of  the  Treasury  in  the  matter  of 
documents  of  vessels  and  through  the  Navigation  Division  of  the 
Customs  Service  in  the  administration  of  other  features  of  the  navi- 
gation laws.  By  the  act  of  July  5,  1884,  the  Bureau  of  Navigation, 
with  a  Commissioner  and  Deputy  Commissioner,  was  established. 
This  Bureau  was  transferred  to  the  Department  of  Commerce  July 
I,  1903,  by  the  act  of  February  14,  1903,  and  to  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  were  transferred  all  the  duties,  power,  authority,  and 
jurisdiction  previously  conferred  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury by  acts  of  Congress  relating  to  merchant  vessels  or  yachts,  their 
measurement,  numbers,  names,  registers,  enrollments,  licenses, 
commissions,  records,  mortgages,  bills  of  sale,  transfers,  entry, 
clearance,  movements  and  transportation  of  their  cargoes  and 
passengers,  owners,  oflBcers,  seamen,  passengers,  fees,  inspection, 
equipment  for  the  better  security  of  life,  and  by  acts  of  Congress 
relating  to  tonnage  tax,  boilers  on  steam  vessels,  the  carrying  of 
inflammable,  explosive,  or  dangerous  cargo  on  vessels,  the  use  of 
petroleum  or  other  similar  substances  to  produce  motive  power, 
and  relating  to  the  remission  or  refund  of  fines,  penalties,  forfei- 
54 


Bureau  of  Navigation  55 

tures,  exactions,  or  charges  incurred  for  violating  any  provision  of 
law  relating  to  vessels  or  seamen. 

The  Bureau  of  Navigation  by  law  has  general  supervision  of  tiie 
merchant  marine  and  of  merchant  seamen  except  in  so  far  as  special 
lines  of  work  are  assigned  to  the  Steamboat-Inspection  Service  and 
the  Public  Health  Service. 

The  Commissioner  is  specially  charged  with  the  decision  of  all 
questions  relating  to  the  issue  of  registers,  enrollments,  and  licenses 
of  approximately  26,000  vessels  of  the  United  States,  ranging  from 
trans- Atlantic  liners  to  motor  boats.  The  Bureau  prepares  and 
publishes  annually  a  list  of  these  vessels,  showing  some  details  of 
construction  and  the  home  port,  and  a  separate  list  of  seagoing  ves- 
sels showing  signal  letters,  names  of  owners,  signal  code,  etc.  The 
changes  in  the  names  of  these  vessels  are  governed  by  statute  and 
are  made  through  the  Bureau. 

Entries  of  vessels  at  ports  of  the  United  States  in  foreign  trade 
number  annually  about  30,000,  with  a  corresponding  number  of 
clearances,  and  disputed  questions  relating  to  these  movements  are 
decided  by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  through  the  Commissioner  of 
Navigation. 

Measurement  of  vessels  to  ascertain  the  basis  upon  which  Federal 
toimage  taxes  and  various  other  chaises — State,  municipal,  and  pri- 
vate— are  assessed  is  also  conducted  by  customs  authorities  imder 
the  direction  of  the  Bureau. 

Tonnage  taxes  collected  annually  on  entries  amount  in  round 
numbers  to  about  $1 ,000,000,  and  the  decisions  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Navigation  on  this  subject  by  statute  are  made  final. 

Among  the  special  laws  enforced  through  this  Bureau  are: 

(i)  Those  governing  radio  communication  enacted  June  24,  1910, 
July  23,  1912,  and  August  13,  1912,  which  cover  wireless  telegraph 
stations  both  on  shipboard  and  in  the  United  States  so  far  as  they 
affect  interstate  and  foreign  commerce.  For  administrative  piu"- 
poses,  the  country  has  been  divided  into  nine  districts  and  in- 
spectors appointed  for  each  district.  These  laws  as  well  as  those 
covering  other  items  of  equipment  and  the  navigation  of  vessels 
are  intended  to  safeguard  life  and  property. 

(2)  The  passenger  act  of  1882,  designed  to  promote  the  safety  and 
comfort  of  steerage  passengers  arriving  in  and  departing  from  the 
United  States,  numbering  over  a  million  a  year. 

(3)  The  motor-boat  act  of  June  9,  1910,  which  aims  to  secure 
obedience  to  the  principles  of  navigation  involved  in  the  "  rules  of 


56  Department  of  C ommerce 

the  road"  and  to  prevent  risk  of  life  through  fire  or  water  on  small 
motor  craft,  already  numbering  approximately  200,000. 

(4)  Regulations  governing  the  anchorage  of  vessels  in  the  harbor 
of  New  York  and  other  ports;  the  transit  of  vessels  through  the 
improved  waters  of  St.  Marjrs  River,  where  the  navigation  move- 
ment is  greater  than  that  through  the  Suez  Canal ;  and  for  the  patrol 
of  crowded  waters  during  regattas  and  marine  parades.  Regula- 
tions are  formulated  by  the  Bureau,  under  the  direction  of  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce,  and  then  enforced  by  revenue  cutters 
and  other  patrol  boats. 

(5)  Laws  concerning  neutrality,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  offenses 
which  are  involved  in  the  clearance  of  any  vessel  fitted  out  or  built 
for  warlike  purposes  or  the  transportation  of  recruits,  arms,  or  muni- 
tions of  war  by  water. 

(6)  The  coastwise  laws,  designed  to  reserve  to  American  vessels 
the  transportation  of  cargo  and  passengers  in  the  domestic  commerce 
of  the  United  States. 

Appeals  from  the  rulings  of  collectors  of  customs  imposing  fines, 
penalties,  and  forfeitures  on  vessels  and  their  owners  or  masters  are 
decided  by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  after  preliminary  investiga- 
tion and  preparation  of  the  evidence  and  facts  by  the  Commissioner 
of  Navigation,  involving  a  knowledge  of  precedents,  construction 
of  statutes,  decisions  of  the  coiuls,  and  the  practical  necessities 
of  the -shipping  interests  as  they  relate  to  safety  to  life  and  property 
and  the  promotion  of  commerce. 

The  remuneration  of  collectors,  and  in  many  instances  siuveyors, 
is  based  partly  on  services  rendered  to  vessels,  for  which  specific 
fees  were  formerly  provided  and  are  still  the  basis  on  which  such 
remuneration  is  paid.  The  accounts  for  these  services,  in  so  far 
as  they  involve  navigation  matters,  have  administrative  audit  by 
the  Biureau,  after  which  they  are  transmitted  to  the  Auditor  for  the 
State  and  other  Departments  for  settlement. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  accord  with  ancient 
maritime  custom,  exercises  supervision  over  the  contracts  between 
the  owners  and  masters  of  vessels  and  the  seamen,  in  order,  so  far 
as  possible,  to  sectire  substantial  justice  in  case  of  dispute,  without 
recomse  to  the  courts.  For  this  piupose  shipping  commissioners 
are  appointed  at  the  principal  seaports  and  at  other  seaports  col- 


Bureau  of  Navigation  57' 

lectors  of  customs  act  as  shipping  commissioners  under  the  general 
supervision  of  the  Commissioner  of  Navigation.  The  laws  thus 
enforced  also  cover  the  shipment  and  discharge  of  seamen,  all 
papers  relating  to  the  crew,  their  wages,  scale  of  provisions,  etc. 
At  17  principal  seaports  upward  of  350,000  seamen  in  rotmd  num- 
bers (cotmting  repeated  voyages)  are  thus  shipped  and  discharged 
luider  Government  supervision. 

The  laws  administered  through  and  by  the  Bureau  of  Navigation, 
which  are  compiled  every  four  years  by  the  Commissioner  of  Navi- 
gation, whose  duty  it  is  to  investigate  the  operation  of  these  laws 
and  to  recommend  to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  particiilars  in 
which  they  should  be  amended  or  improved,  are  published  quad- 
rennially in  a  separate  volume  entitled  "Navigation  Laws  of  the 
United  States,"  to  which  a  supplement  is  issued  annually  upon 
the  adjournment  of  Congress.  The  volume  includes  the  laws 
relating  to  the  registry,  enrollment,  and  license,  ofBcial  numbers, 
and  names  of  merchant  vessels  and  vessels  engaged  in  the  fisheries, 
imdocumented  vessels,  and  yachts;  admeasurement  laws  for  ascer- 
taining gross  and  net  tonnage,  crew  accommodations,  and  propelling 
power;  detailed  statutory  requirements  concerning  the  issue  of 
marine  documents,  bills  of  sale,  mortgages,  and  records;  laws 
relating  to  the  officers  and  crews  of  merchant  vessels,  including 
those  which  govern  agreements,  shipment  and  discharge,  offenses 
and  punishments,  legal  scale  of  provisions,  and  return  and  relief 
of  distressed  seamen;  the  laws  to  determine  seaworthiness  and 
inspection,  provisions,  medicines,  and  log  books,  and  statutes 
fixing  the  liability  of  owners,  masters,  and  shippers;  the  passenger 
act  of  1882  with  amendments,  prescribing  measures  in  detail  for 
the  comfort  of  steerage  passengers;  the  general  pilot  laws,  laws 
governing  motor  boats,  and  provisions  concerning  tonnage  duties, 
discrimination,  and  retaliation;  statutes  governing  entry  and 
clearance,  manifests,  boarding  and  search  of  vessels;  the  laws  con- 
cerning the  coasting  trade,  and  particular  statutes  affecting  trade 
with  Hawaii,  Porto  Rico,  Alaska,  the  Philippines,  and  the  Canal 
Zone;  the  power  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  to  mitigate  and 
remit  penalties  incurred  by  the  owners  and  masters  of  vessels;  the 
statutory  rules  to  prevent  collisions  of  vessels  on  the  ocean,  on 
inland  waters,  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  Mississippi  and  tributaries, 


J8  Department  of  Commerce 

and  those  defiiiing  the  powers  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  over 
the  anchorage  and  movements  of  vessels;  the  regulation  of  radio 
communication;  the  appointment  of  shipping  commissioners  and 
radio  inspectors,  and  various  other  statutes.  The  volume  comprises 
about  500  p^es  and  is  compiled  for  the  use  of  collectors  and  inspec- 
tors of  customs,  shipping  commissioners,  the  owners,  masters,  and 
agents  of  vessels,  seamen,  and  others  directly  interested  in  vessels, 
their  officers,  crews,  passengers,  cargo,  and  navigation. 


BUREAU  OF  STANDARDS. 

The  Constitution  vests  the  Federal  Government  with  power  to 
"fix  the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures,"  and  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Republic  many  of  the  foremost  statesmen  and  scientists 
have  worked  assiduously  to  bring  our  system  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures to  a  more  satisfactory  and  scientific  condition.  Washington 
recognized  this  as  one  of  the  important  subjects  committed  to  Con- 
gress by  the  Constitution,  and  repeatedly  tu-ged  the  necessity  for 
uniform  and  reliable  standards.  In  1790  Thomas  Jefferson,  Sec- 
retary of  State,  was  directed  by  Congress  to  investigate  this  subject, 
and  after  a  most  careful  consideration  submitted  a  report  in  which 
he  suggested  important  reforms,  which  were  not,  however,  adopted. 

A  reference  to  the  subject  of  weights  and  measures  appears  in  the 
act  approved  March  2,  1799  (R.  S.,  2627),  where  it  was  ordered, 
among  other  things,  that  the  surveyor  of  each  port  of  the  United 
States  shbuld  "from  time  to  time,  and  particularly  on  the  first 
Mondays  of  January  and  July  in  each  year,  [examine  and]  try  the 
weights,  measures,  and  other  instruments  used  in  ascertaining  the 
duties  on  imports,  with  standards  to  be  provided  by  each  collector. " 
Apparently  this  act  was  not  enforced,  probably  for  the  reason  that 
no  standard  had  been  adopted  by  Congress  or  by  the  Treasury 
Department.  In  1817  President  Madison  reminded  Congress  that 
nothing  had  been  accomplished  in  reforming  and  unifying  the 
weights  and  measures,  whereupon  the  whole  subject  was  referred 
to  John  Quincy  Adams,  then  Secretary  of  State.  Mr.  Adams,  after 
four  years  of  research,  prepared  a  report  which  has  become  a  classic 
in  metrology;  in  it  he  advised  the  adoption  of  a  universal  standard 
by  international  agreement. 

By  Senate  resolution  of  May  29,  1830,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury was  directed  to  have  an  examination  made  of  the  weights  and 
measures  in  use  at  the  principal  customhouses,  and,  as  was  expected, 
large  discrepancies  were  discovered.  As  a  consequence,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  directed  that  standards  be  adopted  by  the 
Treasury  Department,  and  that  copies  be  made  and  distributed  to 
the  various  customhouses.  The  avordupois  pound  was  adopted  as 
the  standard  of  weight,  and  the  distance  between  certain  lines  on 
a  brass  bar  in  the  possession  of  the  Department,  and  supposed  to 


6o  Department  of  Commerce 

conform  to  the  English  yard,  was  taken  as  the  standard  of  length. 
In  June,  1836,  Congress  directed  further  that  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  should  furnish  each  State  with  copies  of  these  standards. 

By  act  approved  July  28,  1866,  the  use  of  the  metric  system  of 
weights  and  measures  was  legalized ,  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
was  directed  to  fiunish  each  State  with  a  set  of  standard  weights  and 
measures  of  this  system. 

In  1875,  more  than  half  a  centtuy  after  Adams  had  recommended  a 
conference  between  nations  for  the  ptirpose  of  establishing  world- 
wide tmiformity  in  standards,  such  a  conference  was  held,  and  as  a 
result  there  was  established  in  Paris  a  permanent  International 
Biu-eau  of  Weights  and  Measures.  The  bureau  thus  established 
undertook  the  construction  of  prototypes  of  the  metric  standards, 
and  in  1889  these  were  ready  for  distribution  among  the  seventeen 
nations  represented  at  the  international  conference.  Two  meter 
prototypes  (standards  of  length)  and  two  kilogram  prototypes 
(standards  of  mass)  were  sent  imder  seal  to  the  United  States  by 
special  messengers,  and  were  opened  at  the  White  House  in  the 
presence  of  the  President,  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  a  distinguished 
company  of  scholars. 

The  custody  of  the  standards  referred  to  above,  and  the  execution 
of  the  provisions  made  by  Congress,  remained  imtil  July  i,  1901, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Superintendent  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic 
Stirvey,  Treasury  Department,  in  his  capacity  as  Superintendent  of 
the  Office  of  Standard  Weights  and  Measures.  The  facilities  of  the 
latteroffice  were  exceedingly  limited,  and  the  exerciseof  its  functions 
confined  to  departments  of  the  General  Government  and  the  States. 

The  act  of  March  3,  1901,  established  the  National  Bureau  of 
Standards,  and  made  it  an  independent  biu-eau  of  the  Treasury 
Department,  where  it  remained  until,  on  July  i,  1903,  it  became  a 
part  of  the  Department  of  Commerce,  under  the  provisions  of  the 
law  establishing  the  Department.  The  name  "Bureau  of  Stand- 
ards ' '  was  adopted  by  order  of  the  Secretary  on  July  i ,  1903 . 

Since  1901  the  Bureau  has  grown  as  funds  were  provided  to  enable 
it  to  take  up  more  fully  the  functions  prescribed  in  its  organic  act. 
The  relative  urgency  of  the  several  lines  of  activity  fixed  the  order 
and  extent  of  their  development.  The  scope  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures had  broadened  in  recent  times  to  include  power,  light,  heat, 
electricity,  refrigeration,  and  services  of  other  kinds,  which  must  be 
meastired  and  for  which  standards  and  methods  of  measurement  are 


Bureau  of  Standards  6i 

needed.  Not  less  tirgent  are  standards  of  quality,  which  rest  upon 
the  properties  of  materials,  and  which  for  certain  materials  are  par- 
tially defined  in  "specifications."  Units  and  standards  are  here 
needed  relating  to  physical  and  chemical  properties  in  addition  to 
those  of  dimension  and  weight.  The  Bureau  aims  to  meet  this  need 
by  the  development  of  standard  materials,  standard  specifications, 
and  standard  methods  of  test  for  the  properties  of  materials. 

Few  subjects  directly  affect  more  people  than  weighing  and 
measuring,  since  practically  all  products  involve  measurement, 
whether  grown  in  the  soil  or  manufactured.  Construction,  com- 
merce, and  daily  trade  are  based  upon  measurement.  Measure 
and  money  are  the  two  factors  which  fix  price,  and  measvirement 
is  the  basis  of  science  and  technology.  The  Bureau's  functions 
touch  closely  all  who  design  and  make,  buy  and  sell,  transport,  or 
utilize  materials,  energy,  or  other  services  which  require  accurate 
standards  and  measuring  instruments. 

The  Bureau  has  taken  up  as  fully  as  possible  the  special  functions 
prescribed  by  law,  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

(i)  The  custody  of  the  standards,  which  involves  their  care  and 
preservation  and  the  varied  researches  necessary  to  maintain  their 
constancy. 

(2)  Comparisons  of  standards  for  States,  municipalities,  institu- 
tions, and  the  general  public,  including  those  used  in  commerce, 
manufactiu-ing,  and  science,  assiiring  to  the  public  accuracy  at  its 
sotu-ce — in  the  factory  and  the  industrial  laboratory. 

(3)  The  construction  of  new  standards  demanded  by  scientific 
and  technical  progress  on  the  basis  of  the  best  available  data  and 
new  researches  at  the  Bureau,  and  whenever  practicable  by  inter- 
national agreement. 

(4)  Standardization  of  measuring  instnunents  for  manufacturers 
as  a  test  of  their  output,  or  for  the  user  that  he  may  verify  instru- 
ments or  materials  independently. 

(5)  Technical  research  on  problems  connected  with  standards — 
research  which  in  many  cases  limits  the  rate  of  progress  in  a  given 
field. 

(6)  The  determination  of  physical  constants  and  the  properties  of 
materials — ^the  exact  data  relating  to  materials  and  energy  which 
underlie  technical  and  industrial  work,  and  for  which  direct  refer- 
ence to  the  fimdamental  standards  is  highly  desirable. 

(7)  The  determination  of  the  properties  of  materials,  such  work 
being  based  upon  the  modem  view  that  quality  may  be  measured 


62  Department  of  Commerce 

and  standardized  exactly  as  dimension  and  weight  may  be,  al- 
though the  problems  may  be  difficult  and  require  advanced 
research. 

The  organization  of  the  Bureau  is  a  practical  grouping  of  the 
several  classes  of  work — scientific,  clerical,  and  mechanical.  The 
divisions  of  the  scientific  work  are  electricity,  weights  and  measures, 
heat,  light,  and  chemistry.  The  technical  operations  also  include 
engineering  instruments  and  the  investigation  of  materials.  The 
clerical  work  comprises  publication,  records,  library,  accoimts,  cer- 
tificates and  correspondence,  stores,  and  shipping.  The  mechan- 
ical staff  has  the  operation  of  the  engineering  plant,  care  of  build- 
ings and  grounds,  construction  in  the  instrument  shop,  cabinet 
shop,  and  the  shop  for  glass  blowing  and  glass  working.  The  Bu- 
reau aims  to  attain  steady  progress  in  experience  and  knowledge 
among  the  employees  in  its  several  lines  by  a  series  of  graded  posi- 
tions, and  by  providing  facilities  and  opportunities,  such  as  a  tech- 
nical library,  journal  meetings,  and  encoiu-aging  evening  study  to 
supplement  their  practical  experience.  This  policy  stimulates 
interest  and  efficiency. 

The  work  of  the  Bureau  has  its  main  sanction  as  the  legal  custo- 
dian of  the  standards  and  also  on  accoimt  of  the  fundamental  char- 
acter of  the  investigations  undertaken  and  the  precision  attained  in 
such  researches.  In  all  of  its  work  the  Bureau  aims  to  cooperate 
fully  and  directly  with  all  interests  concerned,  since  only  in  this 
manner  can  all  points  of  view  and  sources  of  information  be 
regarded. 

When  international  standards  are  involved,  the  Bureau  cooper- 
ates with  the  standardizing  institutions  of  other  coimtries  and  with 
the  International  Bureau  of  Weights  and  Measures.  The  interna- 
tional agreement  as  to  the  precise  value  of  the  candlepower  as  a  unit 
of  light  is  an  example.  While  such  fundamental  standards  are  still 
relatively  few,  the  derived  standards,  such  as  standards  of  light, 
color,  composition,  combustion,  efficiency,  and  other  quantities 
which  are  developed  as  industrial  and  scientific  needs  multiply, 
steadily  increase  in  complexity. 

Sets  of  the  national  standards  have  been  supplied  to  every  State 
of  the  Union,  and  these  are  verified  from  time  to  time  at  the  Bureau 
of  Standards.  These  sets  serve  to  regulate  the  local  measiu^s  used 
by  coimty  sealers  for  inspection  of  trade  weights  and  measures.  In 
all  of  such  work  the  Bureau  cooperates  with  State  governments  and 


Bureau  of  Standards  63 

oflBcials  by  holding  annual  conferences,  assisting  in  the  technical 
details  of  the  inspection  service,  and  giving  advice  concerning  new 
legislation. 

The  Bureau  also  cooperates  with  the  national  technical  societies 
in  developing  uniform  standard  nomenclature,  improved  specifi- 
cations, more  exact  methods  of  measurement,  and  more  reliable 
and  convenient  forms  of  standards.  The  manufacture  of  measur- 
ing appliances  is  now  a  large  group  of  industries,  and  in  testing  the 
standards  used  to  make  measuring  appliances  the  Bureau  is  indi- 
rectly distributing  precision  in  all  branches  of  commerce  and  trade. 
To  the  general  manufacturer  the  Bureau  makes  available  its  facili- 
ties by  standardizing  the  measures  by  which  he  makes  his  product 
and  upon  his  request  the  product  itself  may  be  tested.  Manufac- 
turers also  refer  technical  problems  to  the  Biu'eau,  and  wherever 
possible  the  Bureau  aims  to  serve  as  a  clearing  house  for  technical 
information  upon  subjects  within  its  field.  The  large  number  of 
inquiries  by  mail  afford  another  medium  for  giving  information 
upon  these  subjects — data  which  often  may  be  directly  applied  in 
commerce,  manufacturing,  research,  and  daily  trade.  The  need 
for  a  clearing  house  for  such  information  needs  no  emphasis. 

Length  measures  in  great  variety — gauges,  bars,  rules,  tapes, 
level  rods — are  standardized  under  known  conditions  of  tempera- 
ttwe  and  manner  of  support.  Researches  are  made  as  to  the  design 
and  use  of  such  instruments,  as  well  as  their  change  with  heat, 
All  length  standards  used  in  manufacturing,  in  engineering — 
whether  measuring  lands,  laying  out  buildings  or  other  structiu-es, 
or  making  maps  and  charts — or  in  scientific  work  must  come  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  from  the  Bureau.  Likewise  the  Bureau  is  the 
legal  custodian  of  the  standards  of  mass,  and  all  makers  of  weight* 
and  balances  and  weighing  instruments,  from  the  most  delicate 
used  by  chemists  and  physicists  to  the  heaviest  used  in  commerce, 
depend  upon  the  Bureau  for  their  standards. 

Each  year  many  thousand  glass  measures — flasks,  pipettes,  bu- 
rettes, cylinders,  and  other  forms  used  by  chemists  and  otliers — are 
tested.  Such  tests  are  made  by  determining  accurately  the  vol- 
ume of  distilled  water  contained  or  delivered  by  the  vessel  at  a 
certain  temperatiue.  Cubic-foot  standards  are  also  verified  for 
use  in  testing  gas  and  water  meter  provers.  Likewise  each  year 
hydrometers  in  large  numbers  are  tested,  mainly  for  use  by  the 
Internal-Revenue  Service  t»  measure  the  densities  of  liquids  in 


64  D  e  p  ar  tment  of  C  ommerce 

order  to  assess  the  proper  tax.  The  Bureau  is  called  upon  also  to 
determine  densities  of  solids,  liquids,  and  gases  in  special  cases. 
These  tests  of  length,  mass,  and  capacity  are  ftmdamental,  and 
with  time  form  the  basis  of  more  complex  measure  of  energy  and 
the  properties  of  materials.  Many  of  the  tests  requested  require 
the  development  of  special  apparatus  and  methods. 

The  importance  to  science  and  industry  of  correct  standards  and 
uniformity  of  measures  of  length,  mass,  and  capacity  is  apparent, 
but  it  is  equally  important  that  standards  be  provided  for  the 
measure  of  electricity,  heat,  light,  pressure,  power,  and  other  quan- 
tities. Moreover,  the  standards  here  involved  are  far  more  com- 
plex. Their  preparation  and  comparison  involve  measurements 
and  research  of  a  high  order  in  practically  all  branches  of  physics 
and  chemistry.  This  work  includes  standard  measuring  instru- 
ments for  temperatures  ranging  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest 
attainable;  the  establishing  of  the  standard  temperatiue  scale,  and 
the  determination  of  standard  heating  values  of  combustibles;  and 
testing  of  pyrometers  for  measuring  the  high  temperatures  used  in 
the  steel,  glass,  pottery,  and  other  industries.  The  standards  and 
instruments  of  the  electrical  industries  are  no  less  important  or 
varied  in  their  nature.  They  involve  as  fundamental  units  those 
of  electrical  resistance  and  electromotive  force,  as  well  as  those  of 
capacity,  inductance,  and  magnetic  quantities.  The  Bureau 
maintains  also  a  laboratory  for  preparing  and  testing  standards  of 
illumination  used  in  the  manufacture  of  electric  lamps  or  the  test- 
ing of  gas,  oil,  and  other  illuminants.  The  optical  work  of  the 
Bureau  also  requires  its  special  units  and  standards,  for  the  special 
optical  problems  involved,  the  tests  of  optical  materials  and  instru- 
ments, and  the  determination  of  optical  constants  of  industrial  and 
scientific  importance. 

Standards  for  manufacturers  are  not  constructed  at  the  Bureau  of 
Standards  except  in  rare  cases,  although  the  Bureau  has  designed 
standard  weights  and  prepared  specifications  for  the  several  grades. 
In  general,  standards  are  purchased  from  the  makers  of  standard 
measiu"es  and  sent  to  the  Bureau  from  time  to  time  for  comparison 
with  the  Government  standards  and  certification  of  errors.  The 
degree  of  precision  with  which  they  are  compared  is  planned  to  meet 
the  exact  needs — ^to  avoid  at  once  needless  overprecision  for  the 
usual  cases  and  also  to  insure  the  adequate  high  precision  where 
that  is  required  for  more  fundamental  or  exacting  work.    The  nice 


Bureau  of  Standards  65 

adjustment  of  the  degree  of  precision  to  the  specific  case  in  hand 
requires  the  experience  and  judgment  of  the  specialist. 

The  testing  of  water,  gas,  and  electric  meters  practically  concerns 
all  who  utilize  such  services.  These  services  should,  of  cotu-se,  be 
as  accurately  measured  as  are  the  ordinary  articles  of  trade,  and  yet 
proper  provision  is  often  Wanting  for  impartial  tests  of  the  accuracy 
of  such  meters.  While  the  public  may  suffer  loss  through  faulty 
meters  for  which  proper  testing  facilities  are  inaccessible,  yet  sus- 
picion may  exist  without  cause,  and  in  such  cases  it  is  equally 
inportant  that  the  accuracy  should  be  authoritatively  attested. 
Most  of  this  work  is  for  manufacttiring  or  central-station  plants  or 
for  municipalities. 

The  work  of  testing  materials  is  another  important  branch  of  the 
Bureau's  fimctions.  Public  safety  rests  upon  the  certainty  that 
the  materials  used  for  buildings,  bridges,  railroads,  and  other  struc- 
tures are  of  sufficient  strength  and  stability.  The  time  has  passed 
when  the  strength  of  materials  can  be  taken  for  granted.  With  the 
rapid  increase  in  the  height  of  buildings,  length  of  spans  of  bridges, 
and  speed  of  transportation  new  problems  in  safety  and  efficiency 
arise,  which  should  not  be  left  to  guesswork  or  even  personal  judg- 
ment. Positive  tests  by  assured  methods  alone  can  guarantee  that, 
to  begin  with,  the  materials  are  properly  selected  for  the  work.  By 
means  of  strain  gauges  and  other  means,  the  finished  structure  may 
be  studied  under  service  conditions.  Experience  is  the  ultimate 
test,  but  imtil  the  knowledge  of  materials  is  sufficiently  complete 
the  best  substitute  when  judgment  must  be  formed  in  advance  is 
based  on  the  laboratory  test.  The  Biireau  cooperates  with  other 
agencies  in  placing  the  testing  of  materials  upon  a  scientific  basis 
as  fully  as  possible. 

The  growing  appreciation  of  the  vast  waste  due  to  defective 
materials  and  their  misuse  has  raised  the  whole  question  of  effi- 
ciency. Adequate  testing  or  measurement  is  the  keynote  to  the 
solution  of  the  central  problem.  The  testing  of  Government  sup- 
plies is  an  illustration.  In  this  work  the  various  branches  of  the 
Government  are  cooperating  with  the  Bureau  and  the  pxu-chasing 
officers  in  amending  the  faulty  definitions,  varying  practices,  and 
imperfect  specifications,  and  providing  suitable  working  standards 
of  quality  and  methods  of  testing.  The  development  of  specifica- 
tions has  been  made  the  subject  of  special  conferences  at  the 
Bureau,  attended  by  Government  experts,  manufacturers,  and 


66  Department  of  Commerce 


users,  and  the  restilts  obtained  in  the  case  of  electric  lamps,  Port- 
land cement,  paper,  and  other  materials  show  the  value  of  such 
irork.  Among  the  more  important  groups  of  materials  tested  are 
metals  and  metal  products,  ceramics,  cement  and  concrete,  lime, 
stone,  wood,  bituminous  materials,  paint  materials,  inks,  paper, 
textiles,  rubber,  leather,  adhesives,  and-  a  large  range  of  miscella- 
neous manufactiu'ed  products. 

The  Bineau  of  Standards  is  located  in  the  northwest  section  of 
Washington,  D.  C,  at  an  elevation  of  350  feet  above  the  Potomac 
River,  on  a  natural  hill  site  of  about  16  acres — a  location  admirably 
suited  to  its  work,  being  practically  free  from  mechanical  and  elec- 
trical disturbances.  It  occupies  a  group  of  five  buildings,  each  of 
which  was  designed  especially  for  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  used. 
In  addition,  it  maintains  laboratories  in  Pittsburgh  and  North- 
ampton, Pa. 

Besides  an  extensive  modem  equipment  of  scientific  instruments 
and  apparatus  for  experimental  and  testing  work,  the  Bureau's 
facilities  are  in  many  respects  unique,  since  the  range  of  work  is  so 
varied.  In  the  heat  division  temperature  ranges  are  available  from 
that  of  liquid  air  to  the  heat  of  a  vacuum  electric  furnace;  in  elec- 
trical work  wide  ranges  of  current  are  available;  in  chemical  work 
the  usual  facilities  are  supplemented  by  many  special  services. 
For  the  experimental  work  electrical  power,  refrigeration,  steam, 
gas,  compressed  air,  vacuum,  liquid  air,  freezing  brine,  time  service 
for  precision  pxu^ses,  and  many  other  facilities  are  available. 

The  Bureau  is  provided  with  a  technical  library  of  more  than 
11,000  volumes,  chiefly  on  physics,  chemistry,  and  technology,  and 
regularly  receives  about  300  joiunals  relating  to  subjects  in  its  field 
erf  work.  The  Bureau  has  issued  more  than  350  publications  giving 
the  results  of  its  scientific  work  and  describing  the  various  lines  of 
testing  now  going  on.    These  are  available  for  public  distribution. 


STEAMBOAT-INSPECTION  SERVICE. 

The  act  of  Congress  approved  July  7,  1838,  which  provided  for 
lifeboats,  signal  lights,  fire  pumps  and  hose,  and  the  inspection  of 
the  hulls  and  boilers  of  steam  vessels,  was  the  first  legislation  on 
the  important  question  of  "the  better  security  of  lives  of  passengers 
on  board  of  vessels  prof>elled  in  whole  or  in  part  by  steam. "  This 
act  was  modified  by  the  acts  of  March  3,  1843,  ^^d  March  3,  1849, 
the  latter  of  which  provided  for  signal  lights  on  all  vessels. 

The  act  of  Congress  approved  August  30,  1852,  known  as  the 
steamboat  act,  however,  was  really  the  establishment  of  the  present 
Steamboat-Inspection  Service,  and  since  that  date  the  work  has 
been  prosecuted,  with  but  few  innovations,  on  the  plans  then 
adopted.  Prior  to  July  i,  1903,  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  was 
charged  with  the  general  supervision  of  the  Service,  but  on  that 
date  this  supervision  was  transferred  to  the  head  of  what  is  now  the 
Department  of  Commerce  by  act  of  Congress  approved  February  14, 
1903  (the  organic  act  of  the  Department). 

At  the  present  time  the  Steamboat-Inspection  Service  is  charged 
with  the  duty  of  inspecting  the  hulls  and  machinery  of  steam  vessels 
and  with  the  administration  of  the  laws  requiring  passenger  vessels 
to  be  equipped  with  boats,  rafts,  water-tight  bulkheads,  signal 
lights,  life-saving  appliances,  and  fire-fighting  apparatus.  It  is 
charged  also  with  the  duty  of  determining  the  number  of  passengers 
a  vessel  can  carry  with  safet>',  the  number  of  officers  necessary  for 
the  safe  navigation  of  vessels,  and  the  licensing  of  such  officers.  It 
prescribes  pilot  rules  to  be  observed  by  vessels  navigating  the  waters 
of  the  United  States,  and  conducts  investigations  and  trials  for  vio- 
lations of  the  steamboat-inspection  laws  and  the  rules  and  regula- 
tions issued  in  fiulherance  thereof. 

For  the  purpose  of  administering  the  pUot  rules  the  waters  of  the 
United  States  are  divided  into  three  parts,  and  separate  rules  are 
made  for  each.  These  three  divisions  are  (i)  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
coast  inland  waters,  (2)  the  Great  Lakes  and  their  connecting  and 
tributary  waters  as  far  east  as  Montreal,  and  (3)  rivers  whose 
waters  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  their  tributaries,  and 
tlie  Red  River  of  the  North. 

67 


68  Department  of  Commerce 

The  jurisdiction  of  the  Service  extends  to  all  steam  vessels  navi- 
gating any  waters  of  the  United  States  which  are  common  highways 
of  commerce  or  open  to  general  or  competitive  navigation,  except 
vessels  owned  by  the  United  States  or  other  governments  and  boats 
propelled  in  whole  or  in  part  by  steam  for  navigating  canals.  It 
has  jurisdiction  also  over  coastwise  seagoing  vessels  and  vessels 
navigating  the  Great  Lakes,  when  navigating  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  over  all  foreign  private  steam 
vessels  carrying  passengers  from  any  port  of  the  United  States  to 
any  other  place  and  country. 

At  the  head  of  the  Service  is  the  Supervising  Inspector  General, 
with  offices  located  in  Washington,  whose  duty  it  is,  under  the 
direction  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce,  to  superintend  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  steamboat-inspection  laws;  preside  at  tlie 
meetings  of  the  Board  of  Super^asing  Inspectors;  receive  all  reports 
and  accounts  of  inspectors;  examine,  on  application  of  the  officer 
whose  license  is  in  question,  any  case  involving  the  revocation  or 
suspension  of  license ;  report  fully  at  stated  periods  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  Commerce  on  all  matters  pertaining  to  his  official  duties, 
and  produce  a  correct  and  uniform  administration  of  the  inspec- 
tion laws,  rules,  and  regulations.  The  Supervising  Inspector  Gen- 
eral is  responsible  for  the  general  effectiveness,  usefulness,  and 
capacity  of  the  Service,  and  for  the  intelligent  direction  and  man- 
agement of  its  affairs. 

The  United  States  and  all  its  territorial  possessions,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  is  divided  into  lo  supervising 
inspection  districts,  each  of  which  is  presided  over  by  a  supervising 
inspector  of  steam  vessels,  and  these  districts,  in  turn,  are  divided 
into  local  districts  in  charge  of  boards  of  local  inspectors,  consisting 
of  a  local  inspector  of  hulls  and  a  local  inspector  of  boilers.  Wher- 
ever necessary,  assistant  inspectors  of  hulls  and  boilers  are  ap- 
Jxjinted  to  assist  the  local  inspectors  in  the  inspection  of  vessels. 
There  is  also  one  traveling  inspector.  To  each  board  at  least  one 
clerk  is  assigned  to  perform  necessary  clerical  work. 

The  supervising  inspectors,  in  charge  of  the  various  supervising 
inspection  districts,  are  selected  for  their  knowledge  and  practical 
experience  in  the  uses  of  steam  for  navigation  and  are  responsible 
for  the  general  condition  and  efficiency  of  the  Service  throughout 
their  respective  districts.  It  is  their  duty  to  watch  over  all  parts 
of  the  territory  assigned  to  them;  instruct  local  boards  of  inspec- 
tors in  the  proper  performance  of  their  duties;  examine,  whenever 


Steamboat-Inspection  Service  69 

they  think  it  expedient,  into  the  condition  of  any  licensed  vessel 
for  the  piupose  of  ascertaining  whether  the  laws  have  been  observed 
both  by  the  inspectors  and  the  masters  and  owners;  and  report  to 
the  Secretary  any  failure  of  a  board  to  do  its  duty.  They  are  also 
obliged  to  visit  any  district  in  which  there  is  at  any  time  no  board 
of  inspectors  and  within  which  steam  vessels  are  owned  and  em- 
ployed, and  to  perform  in  such  district  all  the  duties  imposed  on 
local  boards.  They  hear  and  decide  all  cases  in  which  any  person, 
master,  or  owner  deems  himself  wronged  by  the  decision  of  the  local 
inspectors,  and  investigate  and  decide  all  cases,  when  requested  to 
do  so,  where  disagreements  have  arisen  between  the  local  inspec- 
tors. At  the  end  of  each  year  they  submit  reports  to  the  Supervis- 
ing Inspector  General  covering  the  general  business  transacted 
dining  the  year,  together  with  all  violations  of  laws  and  the  action 
taken  in  relation  thereto. 

On  the  third  Wednesday  of  January,  in  each  year,  and  at  such 
other  times  as  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  may  prescribe,  the  super- 
vising inspectors  and  the  Supervising  Inspector  General  assemble 
at  Washington  as  a  Board  of  Supervising  Inspectors  for  the  purpose 
of  joint  consultation,  the  assignment  of  territory,  the  approval  of 
instruments  and  equipment  required  to  be  used  on  steam  vessel 
for  the  better  security  of  life,  and  the  formulation  of  regulations 
necessary  to  carry  out  in  the  most  effective  manner  the  provisions 
of  the  steamboat-inspection  laws,  which  regulations,  when  approved 
by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce,  have  the  force  of  law.  The  Secre- 
tary, however,  is  authorized  to  call  in  session,  at  any  time,  after 
reasonable  public  notice,  a  meeting  of  an  executive  committee, 
composed  of  the  Supervising  Inspector  General  and  two  supervis- 
ing inspectors,  which  committee,  with  the  approval  of  the  Secre- 
tary, may  change  or  repeal  any  of  the  rules  or  regulations  made  by 
the  Board  of  Supervising  Inspectors,  such  changes  to  have  the  force 
of  law  and  continue  in  effect  until  30  days  after  the  adjotu^ment  of 
the  next  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Supervising  Inspectors.  The 
executive  committee  may  also  approve  instruments,  machines,  and 
equipment  required  to  be  used  on  steam  vessels  for  the  better 
security  of  life. 

Each  of  the  local  districts  into  which  the  various  supervising  in- 
spection districts  are  divided  is  presided  over  by  a  board  of  local 
inspectors,  consisting  of  a  local  inspector  of  hulls  and  a  local  inspec- 
tor of  boilers.     It  is  the  duty  of  this  board  to  inspect,  at  least  once  a 


fo  Department  of  Commerce 

year,  each  steam  vessel  within  its  district,  and  to  certificate  or  dis- 
approve the  same,  and  to  examine  all  steamers  arriving  and  depart- 
ing to  and  from  the  ports  in  its  district,  and  order  the  master  or 
owner  to  make  necessary  repairs  or  correct  imilawful  conditions. 
It  is  also  incumbent  on  the  board  to  examine  all  persons  applying 
for  officers'  licenses,  to  license  for  five  years  each  of  them  who  can 
be  safely  intrusted  with  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the 
station  for  which  application  is  made,  to  investigate  all  acts  of 
incompetency  or  misconduct  committed  by  licensed  officers  while 
acting  under  the  authority  of  their  licenses,  and  when  necessary 
to  suspend  or  revoke  the  licenses  of  such  officers.  It  is  required 
to  keep  a  record  of  all  licenses  granted  to  masters,  mates,  pilots, 
and  engineers,  as  well  as  its  decisions  in  cases  where  licenses 
have  been  refused,  suspended,  or  revoked,  and  to  transmit  to  the 
supervising  inspector  of  its  district  all  testimony  received  by  it  in 
such  proceedings.  It  is  also  required  to  keep  a  record  of  certificates 
issued  to  vessels  and  of  every  steamer  boarded  dtudng  the  year, 
which  information,  together  with  an  account  of  all  other  official  acts, 
is  communicated  to  the  supervising  inspector  in  the  form  of  a  re- 
port at  such  times  as  may  be  directed. 

Assistant  inspectors  perform  such  duties  of  actual  inspection  as 
may  be  assigned  to  them  under  tlie  direction,  supervision,  and  con- 
trol of  the  local  inspectors,  and  may  be  detailed  by  the  Supervising 
Inspector  General,  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  Com- 
merce, to  inspect,  at  the  mills  where  the  same  are  manufactured, 
iron  and  steel  plates  to  be  used  in  the  construction  of  marine  boil- 
ers, which  plates,  when  properly  stamped,  are  accepted  by  local 
inspectors  as  being  in  full  compliance  with  the  law. 

Whenever  any  local  inspector  or  supervising  inspector  ascertains 
that  any  vessel  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  steamboat-inspection 
laws  is  being  operated  or  navigated  without  complying  with  the  pro- 
visions of  such  laws,  the  certificate  of  inspection  issued  to  such 
vessel  is  immediately  revoked,  and  no  new  certificate  is  issued  imtil 
the  law  has  been  fully  complied  with.  Any  vessel  operating  or 
navigating,  or  attempting  to  operate  or  navigate,  after  the  revoca- 
tion of  her  certificate  of  inspection  and  before  the  issuance  of  a  new- 
certificate  is  subject  to  a  fine,  and  may  by  proper  order  or  action  of 
any  district  court  of  the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  be  seized 
summarily  by  way  of  libel  and  held  without  privilege  of  release  by 
bail  or  bond  until  a  proper  certificate  of  inspection  shall  have  been 


Steamboat-Inspection  Service  71 

issued  to  said  vessel.  Any  master  or  owner  of  any  vessel  whose 
certificate  shall  have  been  revoked  may,  however,  appeal  to  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  for  a  reexamination  of  the  case,  and  upon 
such  appeal  the  Secretary  has  power  to  revise  or  set  aside  the  action 
of  the  local  or  supervising  inspector  and  to  direct  the  issuance  of  a 
certificate  of  inspection.  The  judicial  process  brought  against  the 
vessel  shall  thereupon  be  of  no  fiuther  force  or  effect,  and  the  vessel 
shall  be  released. 

The  duties  of  the  traveling  inspector,  performed  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Supervising  Inspector  General,  are  to  travel  from  place 
to  place  and  make  special  examinations  of  vessels  subject  to  in- 
spection, for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  Supervising  Inspector 
General  informed  as  to  the  actual  conditions  in  the  districts  as  he 
observed  them,  with  a  view  to  obtaining  uniform  administration 
of  the  law,  and  the  standardizing  of  equipment  and  of  licensing 
of  officers. 

In  addition  to  the  annual  report  of  the  Supervising  Inspector 
General  and  the  list  of  officers  licensed  each  year,  the  Service  issues 
and  distributes  frequent  editions  of  pilot  rules  for  each  of  the  three 
divisions  into  which  the  waters  of  the  United  States  are  divided, 
laws  governing  the  Service,  and  general  rules  and  regulations  pre- 
scribed by  the  Board  of  Supervising  Inspectors. 

o 


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